Save the Blind Man
by Akaiba
Summary: ARC 1 of 2. Crossover story, originally posted on LJ, of Sylar from Heroes and Danny from Blind Dating. Danny's heartbroken without Leeza and all that hurt and saddness has to rebound off onto something, sadly he's not picked the best guy... Sylar.
1. A Blind Man's Smile

CROSS-POSTED FROM LIVEJOUNRAL

T**itle:** Blind Smiles  
**Author: **Akaiba  
**Rating:** NC-17 (you have been warned)  
**Disclaimer:** Were any of the characters Zachary Quinto and Chris Pine portray mine (or indeed the actors themselves) I would not have time to post fanfiction. ;)  
**Characters/Pairings:** Sylar(Heroes)/Danny(Blind Dating) (yes i am insane)  
**Summary:** AU (obviously) and Danny's heartbroken Leeza didn't break her promise for him but all that hurt and saddness has to rebound off onto something, sadly he's not picked the right guy to obsess over because Sylar can obsess (hunger) better than anyone.

It is advised, however, that you read this fic in tandem with Lorlo7's vid www . youtube . com / watch (minus the spaces) The fic does not start at the begining of the vid but headers will indicate sections of the vid they refer to. Have fun trying to match them though I've made it as simple as I can... I think. :3

~o~S~o~D~o~ **Prior to lorlo7's Pinto vid.**

Danny smiles without cause as he munches happily on the sandwich before him. Sat on a park bench by himself he simply let the sounds of the park wash of him, letting himself relax and not think about anything.

Nope not thinking.

Definitely not thinking about her. Nope.

Dammit!

His shoulders slump in defeat and his smile slips before melting completely like ice. He hasn't been able to get his mind off her since he left the hospital. Of course she hadn't been able to change her promise- why had he thought a stupid, foolish and life threatening declaration of his love would change that? God, who was he fooling? If she had felt anything for him then he shouldn't have needed to almost kill himself to try and win her heart. Can't win what's not on offer.

He sighs and with all the manner of a child throwing a tantrum he hurls the remains of his sandwich in the vague vicinity before him.

Too wrapped up in his own spiralling waves of self-depreciation he doesn't hear the thrown object impact or the angry footsteps towards him until he is surrounded by a warm, spicy scent of cologne he didn't know.

"Is this yours?" The person inquires icily. Danny winces, instant realisation dawning on his face as he runs a hand through his hair awkwardly.

"Um, did I hit you with that?" When he receives no reply but feels a distinct chill in the air he winces again. "Sorry about that, I… I didn't know there was anyone over there." He hesitates on informing the person, male definitely, of why he didn't- can't- see him. In light of recent events he is feeling a bit sensitive about his inability to see at the moment.

He hears a clink to his side and ducks his head downwards as he realises the man has picked up his stick. He can hear him turning it over in his hands before it is set down again. Danny doesn't say anything, part of him knowing that the man is already gone, deciding to pity the poor blind guy, and he just wishes he could see and then they would fight like normal guys over the man's indignation of having a sandwich thrown at him. There are no sounds anymore and Danny pulls his knees up onto the bench, his fingers playing idly with his laces when he's jolted by the sound of the man's voice again.

"See that it doesn't happen again."

Danny's head jerks in the vague direction of where he can hear the voice- above him and before him, just slightly to the left of where he is sat- and says nothing, his mouth open in surprise.

He hears the man leave this time; his feet stepping on the grass and making a sound so soft most people dismissed it. But Danny focused on it until it was swallowed by other sounds. He can still hear the man's voice in his ears. It's dark and strong. Danny fears him slightly, wonders if maybe he's lucky that the man _didn't_ attack him or worse. But still… a part of him is blushing slightly. His cheeks feel hot. Maybe the man did just leave out of pity for the poor blind guy… but he didn't apologise for him or for his blindness or for confronting him. In fact, he lightly threatened him!

That shouldn't be as comforting as it is- being threatened by someone- but it is.

It means that, on some level, the man didn't pity Danny enough to let him get away with throwing sandwiches at him.

And that's the biggest compliment Danny's had in weeks.

~o~S~o~D~o~

Danny's buys coffee before he even thinks about heading to his law class, burning his fingers on the scalding liquid as he tried to add milk without it overflowing.

He curses softly to himself as he sucks the offended finger into his mouth, his stick tucked under his arm until he has a hand free to use it- much as he detests it- and even with him taking extra care to walk slowly and against the wall it comes as no great shock when he hits someone.

Even though it shouldn't have been a surprise- blind guy walking without aid down a busy street- he loses his grip on his coffee as it is crushed between the two colliding bodies and he grimaces in expectation of the hot drink soon splashing over him when suddenly the drink he's holding isn't hot anymore- its feels empty! He yelps in reflexive surprise and the drink falls from his loose fingers, his stick following it.

"M'sorry!" He mumbles, still too shocked about what he thinks he felt- he _knows_ he felt- just before the drink fell.

The offended person says nothing but he can hear their breathing falter from the laboured breath of one about to yell something to surprise- yes he's that good at hearing, when one sense fails another compensates. He cocks his head curiously. He hears the other bend down and suddenly the air around him is very familiar. Spicy and warm. Memories of a voice his mind isn't ready to let go of attack him and his mouth opens in surprise.

He doesn't notice that, while he did let go of his stick, it never actually hit the floor. But then again, he can't see. Maybe the man had just caught it as it fell, it's not like the stick could just jump off the ground, right? He does hear the man pick up the cup, hears its hollow sound but when its handed back to him he can feel the liquid sloshing around inside. His mouth parts further in confusion and just stares at where he guesses the man's face might be. It doesn't matter that he's actually staring a little past his shoulder as the other person gets his shock- realises that even if he is blind he's not stupid. Danny knows something strange just occurred but doesn't know what.

The man snorts and pats Danny's shoulder as he moves past, slipping Danny's stick back into his other hand. "You'll catch flies leaving your mouth open like that."

Danny whirls around, engulfed in that strong cologne as the man leaves. He wants to call out, say something- anything! But the words won't leave his throat as he clutches his lukewarm drink and his stick tightly. His thoughts are a mess as he sits through his class, not really hearing anything being said. All he can hear is that velvety voice over and over in his mind, feels violated a million different ways by what he can discern from that voice. It feels just as dark as it had in the park- as full of dark intent and uncontrolled power. It makes Danny shudder in ways he knows are so, so wrong.

The man is terrifying and Danny has yet to even know his name but he can't help but hope he meets him again.

~o~S~o~D~o~

He smiled politely at the greeting he received from the woman he passed. One of his mother's friends, he recognises her voice. Danny doesn't really know where he's going, he's just walking aimlessly. Of course he knows where he is, it'd be kind of stupid for him to get lost in his state- that and it's his home town. He's not got his stick out today though; it is tucked into the waistband of his jeans at the back just in case. Instead, he's got his hand out, running over the sides of the buildings as he passes, feeling everything through his fingers as he moves.

His intent is to go to the basketball court. It's too late in the day for anyone to be there now but he's not looking for company. He just wants to sit there. It occurs to him briefly that he hasn't really thought of Leeza since he bumped into that strange man the second time. It doesn't really hurt to think her name anymore. Of course he's still a bit sensitive talking about her and he's not really at ease with his blindness anymore and his confidence hasn't recovered at all but still… he's getting there.

He smiles to himself. He's not going to feel this pain forever, he assures himself. It'll go away.

When he reaches the basketball court he can hear voices. The ground shakes and there's enough electrical charge in the air to make his hair stand on end. He frowns as a woman cries out in alarm and suddenly he's stumbling in a run to help. Almost inside he hears a startlingly familiar voice cry out in pain and his heart stops- which is ridiculous and stupid and so many other things- and he bursts onto the court.

He can smell burning and blood and sweat and spicy cologne. Danny can't see where anyone is but he can hear someone scrambling away, the chain link fence clinking loudly and he can hear small heels clacking away at a run, panting following them- the woman he thinks, he doubts that man wears heels- and that leaves the other source of panting to be the man.

He staggers towards the heavy breathing and the smell of blood is stronger. He collapses to his knees and crawls the rest of the way until he can feel skin and clothing and a body beneath his hands.

"What are you doing here?!" The man sounds angry, outraged and shocked. So much emotion in his voice it stuns Danny for a moment. The man's never spoken to him with so much emotion before that he doesn't know how to reply. "You stupid, stupid kid." The man laughs at him, humourless but condescending nonetheless.

Danny glares at him- in his direction anyway- and his hands clench in the man's shirt that he wasn't really aware he was still holding onto. "I heard shouting… I-I came to help!"

"I don't know if you've noticed but… you're blind. You wouldn't really be much of a help." The man doesn't pity him, he's insulting him. Danny knew he should feel offended and part of him is angry but not really because of the insult. He's angry because his valiant rescue isn't being received with thanks but he's still flattered the man isn't going to be nice to him just because he's blind. Sure, Danny's met people who liked to pick on him because he was blind but the man wasn't just trying to be mean, he was trying to point how stupid Danny was being running about in the evening to save people he barely knows.

"Yeah well, you're bleeding so you're in no position to turn down help." Danny's hand slipped down to where he can feel the blood in the soaked shirt but when he touches the skin underneath- the firm muscle he can feel flexing beneath his hand- the skin isn't torn at all. He runs his fingers over it, stunned, until the man pushes him away roughly.

Danny fell back, sprawled on the ground and not really caring that he was shoved. The man stands over him, breathing heavily and from the shift of fabric he knows there's a hand extended to him. He shakily reaches up and grasps the hand only to find it was clenched except for a single finger extended to him- pointing at him? Danny frowns and is about to ask when suddenly the hand unclenches and he's pulled to his feet roughly.

Its then he realises his stick snapped uselessly on impact to the ground as it falls from his waistband to the floor. Danny shakily scrambles to pick it up and tries to reassemble it. Yes, he hates his stick, but it's a form of security he'd rather not be without when he's out in the evening and not really near enough to home for him to be comfortable walking back without an aid. He's done it before but his stick has been right to hand should he hesitate knowing where he is.

He makes a pained sound against his will and hears the man fold his arms beside him. There's a long pause where he just inhales and finally says, "… where do you live?" Danny tells him with a shaky voice, not entirely sure where this is going. Plus, he's already pretty certain that the man is dangerous and telling him where he and his family live isn't something he feels very comfortable with but it comes out before he can stop it.

Suddenly the man grabs him by his elbow and is dragging him off roughly, Danny yelping again in surprise. It's not an entirely manly thing to do but it just slips out.

"W-where are you taking me?!" Danny demands.

"Home, where else?" There's a silkiness to his voice that has Danny confused, he can sense amusement as well and he frowns. He jerks his elbow free, determined to maintain some dignity, and before the man can stop he places his hand on the man's shoulder.

The man continues walking, saying nothing, but Danny can sense the man's condescending humour like he's outright laughing. He's also not too pleased that the man is just a little taller than him, his hand resting on a shoulder a few centimetres taller than his own.

They walk in silence for a while until Danny just has to break it. "So… my name's Danny. What's yours?"

The man snorts in that annoying way that lets Danny know he thinks he's being infantile. They've only really met each other three times, including this time, and yet he can read the man's voice like a book. He doesn't know him, in fact he's a little terrified of ever knowing him, but he can sense enough off him to not need to see his expressions. Danny doubts they would be too revealing anyway. "Sylar." The man says eventually.

"Sylar… Sylaaaar. Syyyylaaar." Danny runs it around his mouth a few times before he smiles, pleased. "I like it."

"I'm glad." Sylar replies and Danny can taste the sarcasm. He laughs and he knows Sylar's smiling slightly. He can hear it. And, god, it sounds beautiful.

They walk the rest of the way in companionable silence until Sylar gently removes Danny's hand from his shoulder and indicates the steps up to his house. Danny thanks him and smiles at where he thinks Sylar is. As he approaches the front door Sylar calls out to him, he turns.

"Do you have another one of those? Those sticks, I mean." Sylar asks slowly.

Danny smiles brightly again. "Yeah, don't worry about it."

Sylar doesn't respond in anyway Danny can discern but he hears the man began to walk away, that spicy warmth leaving him finally, and Danny thinks that's the closest he's ever going to get to an apology from the strange man.

~o~S~o~D~o~

He's seen Leeza today. Hah. _Seen_. Well, he heard her.

He heard her voice. It's was sweet as ever but Danny can hear she's unhappy. Not by what she's saying, it's more of a soulful kind of unhappy. Danny is ashamed part of him is glad she feels just as crappy as he did. Yes, did. Somehow Danny doesn't feel so bad anymore. He's pretty certain it has something to do with Sylar.

He hasn't seen the man since that night Sylar walked him home but keeps thinking he sees him out the corner of his eye. When he looks closer, however, he's gone. Danny's not sure he was ever there but it still makes his mouth dry every time he catches the faintest scent of that cologne. Even at night he's certain he felt a hand caressing his brow while he slept. Wishful thinking, maybe. But still… the thought of Sylar stroking his face while he sleeps does funny things to his stomach and he can't help but feel like a giddy schoolgirl.

That utterly demoralised part of him that he doesn't think will ever recover from Leeza keeps whispering it's a dream. Of course it's a dream, why would Sylar repeatedly break into his house at night to stroke his face while he slept? It's a ludicrous thought. But still… that one time he murmured Sylar's name the hand faltered and didn't return that night…

Danny considers mentioning this encounter to his psychologist but he doubts she'd be very helpful on the matter. She's supporting, caring and a little weird and he loves her to bits but she's so happy with that Dr. Perkins he doesn't want to rain on her parade. At least one of them should be deliriously happy.

It's not for a long, painfully contemplative month until he sees Sylar again. Er… he _encounters_ Sylar again.

He exits his house and is about to step down the steps to the pavement until he smells that scent that makes his stomach flip-flop and his eyes widen, his mouth immediately tugged up into a smile and he addresses where he's guessing Sylar might be. "Hey you." He says with a grin.

Sylar steps towards him and Danny's head jerks, his estimate of Sylar's position way off. "Hello."

Danny begins to walk, his hand out defiantly against the use of the stick- a new one- that is stuck in his jeans when Sylar catches his wrist and places it firmly on his shoulder. Danny says nothing but he smiles like the cat that got the canary and the cream and lets Sylar lead him. There's a part of him, a part he can't quite explain or silence, that is screaming he's getting involved with something far bigger than him and that nothing good will come of this but when he can feel Sylar's heat beneath his hand he can't quite care.

"So where are you taking me?" Danny asks curiously but he's not sure he'll mind where they go at all, not so long as Sylar is there.

"You're awfully trusting of someone you barely know." Sylar observes dryly, blatantly avoiding the question. "Aren't you the least bit worried I'm going to lead you somewhere no one can hear you scream and murder you?" Somehow, and Danny's not sure why, that doesn't sound as much of a farfetched scenario as it should.

Danny's grip tightens, revealing he's now a little afraid. But he's smiling as he replies, "I suppose now I am… but, as you continuously point out, I'm blind and at a disadvantage. There's not much I could do to stop you so it wouldn't really matter. I guess I'm just going to hope you don't hate me that much." Danny cocks his head. "But… I'm studying law and I feel I should tell you that it's pretty difficult to get away with murder nowadays."

Sylar's amused. Danny can feel it- can hear that smile. Only this one's not very beautiful. It's dark and morbid and Danny shivers. "Oh? I find it interesting you think my hating you would be the reason for me to kill you. That's not the only reason people murder others."

"Well, I guess not. Some people do it for money, power, love, loss…" He trails off.

"A hunger." Sylar says firmly.

"Yeah, a hunger for something they don't have that they feel they need." Danny surmises slowly. It's a bizarre conversation and he's more than a little disturbed and more than a little of him wants to let go of Sylar and run.

Sylar stops suddenly. Danny stops with him, stumbling a little into his shoulder. "You… you're a very bright person, Danny." He says slowly after a while. Its sounds so surprised Danny wants to laugh but he takes the genuine compliment in kindness.

He beams at the praise. "Thanks!"

Sylar says nothing but resumes walking.

Other than that the day passes without incident. Sylar ends up leading him to a small café he wasn't aware existed- in _his_ own town as well- and Danny discovers that Sylar has a deep love of ice cream. They talk about really trivial stuff and Danny doesn't press the fact that when he inquires anything about Sylar, the man deflects the question either subtly or obviously- daring Danny to make something of it. Danny doesn't and is more than happy to talk about what of himself Sylar wants to know and anything else that comes up.

When Danny's phone rings and a very irate Jay is demanding why he hasn't turned up at the basketball courts to hustle a few more cocky assholes, Sylar isn't angry when Danny has to cut their time together short.

Danny pays the bill and Sylar seems slightly irritated he's not allowed to pay for his share. It's quickly smoothed over when Danny rather needlessly puts his hand on Sylar's shoulder and lets him lead them out of the café. Danny may be blind but he can navigate a small café floor without much aid but he can also sense that it makes Sylar slightly smug to have been depended on and he guesses it repays him for having paid the bill.

They part with Danny smiling brightly and Sylar's murmured 'goodbye'. For the rest of the day Danny's mind is on Sylar but he manages a decent enough performance at the basketball court winning Jay $30 and earning him a clap on the back. Even the glares from the losers can't destroy the brilliant day he's having.

It's only when Jay asks why he's so happy, not that he isn't unusually smiley most of the time, that he realises he hasn't told anyone about Sylar.

He isn't inclined to. He doesn't want to share.

~o~S~o~D~o~

It's really late and Sylar has him pinned to the wall of some alley. Danny can feel his hot breath on his face; smell that cologne all around him. The sensations are overwhelming and he's gripping Sylar so tightly- afraid he's going to just let go and leave him there.

As if he can sense the fear and lust Danny is feeling Sylar kisses him.

Danny's not sure how he can feel so trusting of a man he barely knows even if they have been spending a lot of time together- and it doesn't escape his notice its odd hours of the day and night and never with anyone else around- but he can feel Sylar's intense gaze and knows there's more of a weight to it than he knows. For his part, he's not quite sure why he's letting Sylar do this.

It's not a gentle kiss, not like how Leeza used to kiss him. Not even when they were clearly considering going further than simply kissing had Leeza ever kissed him like this. It was as if Sylar wanted to crawl inside of him, his tongue tasting every inch of him hungrily and Danny couldn't catch his breath. He wrapped his hands tightly around Sylar's neck and refused to even let the light headedness pull them apart until they wrenched apart on instinct, gasping lewdly into the night.

He can feel Sylar's eyes on him and he flushes. Its not a gentle gaze by any means and Danny can sense so much in that gaze that even if he can't see it and doesn't understand much of it- being inexperienced at that moment really sucked- he knows he'll probably enjoy whatever Sylar has planned.

Still… he had never thought his first time would be in an alley.

Sylar abruptly lets him go and pulls away. Only enough for them to breathe easily but still close enough for Danny to feel his body heat.

"Ina-… inappropriate place." Sylar eventually breathes. It's the first time he's heard Sylar stammer and he feels oddly proud to have caused that.

But still…

Danny stares at him like he's just killed his dog for a long while before sensibility kicks in and he blushes. "Y-yeah…"

Sylar walks him home silently, Danny's hand on his shoulder as was customary now. When they get to Danny's house Sylar walks him directly to the front door. It's dark except for the streetlights- he knows this, he can't see them but he knows they'll be on- and without really needing to see Danny knows his family- his mother- will still be awake worrying where her baby boy is.

Standing in front of the door Danny removes his hand and begins to say goodbye when Sylar suddenly shoves him against the door again and claims his mouth. Danny's head cracks off the door and he just _knows_ his mother will have heard but he doesn't care as he pulls Sylar closer and arches into that warm body. It's not right how much the man's kisses make Danny feel like he's being fucked. Danny doesn't even really know what that feels like but he's never felt anything like the way Sylar's tongue shoves into his mouth, sliding over his own tongue obscenely. There are teeth and saliva and so many wet sounds but it's the best fucking thing in the whole world.

He whines and he swears he heard Sylar's breath hitch and that's when his mother could be heard approaching the door.

Sylar jerks backwards, kissing him chastely before disappearing and the door opened behind him leaving Danny to fall flat on his back in the hallway. He doesn't answer his mother's questions but he's smiling so she doesn't worry too much. Well, no more than normal and Danny just hugs her tightly and assures her he is perfectly fine.

He doesn't tell her about Sylar. He doesn't tell anyone. He's not sure why but something tells him that Sylar would not be happy if he did.

~o~S~o~D~o~

"You _will_ come with me."

Sylar is resting with his back against Danny's open window, Danny knows he is because he was previously leaning against that body until the strange man started saying they had to leave. Not that _he_ had to leave, that _they _had to.

Danny is sort of used to Sylar disappearing for days on end without word. It's not like they have anything really official- Sylar certainly doesn't answer to _him_- but this is a whole new level of strange and what's worse is that Danny can tell, can sense it in his tone, that Sylar is not joking. There's a dangerous edge to his voice and though it was never a request anyway he is pretty certain that Sylar will not accept anything short of 'yes'.

"Wha-… why?!" Danny cries out sharply. He's surprised and a little overwhelmed so he can't really be held responsible that he forgets momentarily that it's the middle of the night and they are in Danny's room in his parent's house while the rest of the house is sleeping.

He can hear a rush of cloth and footsteps and suddenly Sylar has shoved him onto the bed with his weight pinning Danny effectively, a hand clamping his mouth shut tight. The slightly smaller man knows struggling is pretty pointless but he does it reflexively until Sylar shakes him roughly. It occurs to him again just how little he knows about this man. He knows his name, knows he likes ice cream and knows he likes to appear in Danny's room in the middle of the night. That's the extent of his knowledge. Even after a month and a half its all he knows.

Part of him is appalled he willingly kisses this man when he knows that little about him.

Part of him wants to know why they aren't fucking yet.

"Be quiet. It wasn't a question." Sylar points out needlessly though he does that a lot. Danny guesses it's because he thinks the blind guy might need certain things spelling out for him. The hand is till covering his mouth so Danny makes no reply. "You are in no position to argue with me." He emphasises this by pressing harder onto the body beneath him and all Danny can think is how warm Sylar is. His body anyway, at that moment his voice is as cold as ice.

Danny pulls Sylar's hand away even though he's pretty sure he wouldn't be able to move it without the man's consent but luckily it comes away without much urging. He's breathing heavily but he's adamant that's only from not being able to breathe through his mouth for a while there- not that he's currently on his bed with Sylar pressed so tightly to him that there's barely enough room for his breath to be caught. "Y-you… you c-can't… I m-mean… t-that's not… this is a stupid conversation to be having in the middle of the night." Danny says finally for lack of anything better to say.

Sylar scoffs derisively. Danny knows that sound very well by now. It signals that whatever disagreement they are having- he won't win. "You have no idea what you've gotten yourself into, have you?"

Rhetorical question or not, Danny feels compelled to defend himself. "I haven't gotten myself into anything!" He hisses. "Just because you won't tell me anything doesn't mean it's my fault!"

The hand is back over his mouth. "Be quiet."

There's a long silence and Danny guesses Sylar is listening for sounds of movement beyond the door but when none come Sylar's hand still remains. Waiting even longer he frowns and then the hand is removed and Sylar kisses him again. It's just as demanding and controlling and feverish as all of the other times and it makes Danny's head spin with a want and desire he's not entirely familiar with.

His hands come up to lace in Sylar's hair, pulling his face closer, but Sylar doesn't like being pinned and in a matter of seconds Sylar his Danny's wrists in his tight grip and is holding them down on the bed.

They break apart and Danny lies their breathing heavily and it's the only sound he can hear over the sound of his racing heart. He's not even sure if he can hear Sylar breathing and for a moment he wonders if the man left but he can still feel his hands being pinned and a heavy weight on his chest so he guesses maybe not. There's a soft press of a startlingly gentle kiss and Danny recognises it as Sylar's 'goodbye' kiss and sure enough, when its over- which is after a second or two- Sylar releases his wrists and is gone through the window.

Danny knows he hasn't won that argument. Not yet. Not ever.

~o~S~o~D~o~

He comes back from dinner with one of Larry's set-up dates and is absolutely exhausted. No matter how much Danny insists he's not looking for action or a relationship or anything at the moment, Larry just won't let it go. He says until Danny brings home a girl he plans to have fantastically filthy sex with he won't leave Danny alone. Danny thinks Larry's going to be doing this forever then, because Sylar's not a girl.

He's just grateful his kid sister is staying over at a friend's house that weekend so he's not setting a bad example for her, coming home in the middle of the night.

Reaching for the door handle his hand grabs air and his heart lurches. He can smell something in the air- something foul. He shakily reaches out and pushes the already ajar door open wider. It hits him fully then- the acrid smell of tangy copper that stains the back of his throat even from just inhaling. He chokes and shakes on his feet. Blind and dizzy don't mix well and he barely makes it into the house before he falls to his knees in the hallway. There's something dreadful in that coppery smell and he wants to be sick.

Crawling on his hands and knees he makes his way into the kitchen. His hand presses on several shards of broken glass and he can feel them split his skin effortlessly; sliding into his palm and feel the blood seep over his palms. He can't really feel the pain, he knows its there but it's pushed down beneath so many layers of fear and adrenaline that he can't process it. He crawls further into the room, ignoring the way the glass tears his trousers and embeds in his legs.

The stench of blood is so overpowering its making his head spin but he can smell something else as well. He'd never understood those people who said you could smell death but now he could smell it as though he'd always known what this smelt like and he guess on some level every human knows that scent. It makes his stomach lurch and his hands shake as his skin breaks out in shivers.

His hand brushes against something soft. Hair.

He reaches out and his hands close around his mother's face. Danny knows it her, he knows her perfume and knows her own scent. He's lived with her all his life and he knows the texture of her hair and the shape of her face, knows that the cold stream of blood that is no longer flowing but has painted down her face, over her lips and staining her dress shouldn't be there.

His hands are covered in blood, he can feel the slickness between his fingers, can taste it in the air when he brings his hands to his face to wipe the tears he didn't know he was shedding.

Danny screams. It's not a scream of fear or terror but loss. Panic and hurt.

He shakily scrambles backwards; falling over the body he knows is his father in the process but doesn't stop crawling away until he wedges himself in a corner of the kitchen. He's still screaming and sobbing and pulling at his hair. There's blood all over his face and matted in his hair and his hands and feet hurt where there's glass in them but all he can think about are those black and white, grainy images of the only glimpses of his parent's faces that he ever saw. Though it was improbable anyway, now it's impossible to ever see his parent's smiling faces ever again. He can feel his throat burning with pain as he screams again; throwing his head back and loving the way the pain and impact rattle his brain so much he can't feel a damn thing.

He doesn't hear Sylar come in. He doesn't feel the man pull him up, doesn't feel him drag him out the house as the police sirens approach. He can vaguely hear a static kind of noise he knows should be words but all he can really hear is the blood pounding in his ears and the sound of his own heartbeat.

Even though he's blind, he knows he can feel his mother's eyes watching him as Sylar takes him from the house. It's a feeling he won't ever forget.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **In the vid: 0:00-0:16**

He jerks awake as Sylar flicks the radio on. They had stopped in a service station where Sylar had roughly cleaned his face and forced him to wash his hair in the sink and had, rather patiently, waited for him to finish throwing up in the disgusting toilet before they continued driving. Sylar hasn't said a damn thing to him but even if he had Danny isn't sure he would have heard him. Danny wonders since when Sylar has a car but he can just add that to the list of questions he'll never have answered.

The music is washing over them and Danny can't hear words but he can hear the tune and he's not sure if it should be making him want to scream and cry and destroy something with his bare hands but it does. It's a soothing tune but Danny's beyond comfort.

It doesn't matter that they've cleaned the blood off of Danny; he can still smell the death that clings to his clothes. Every time he closes his eyes he can feel that feeling of his mother's cold dead eyes watching leave with a man he never told her about and he didn't even call the police but he had heard sirens so someone must have.

He doesn't wake up again until Sylar is shaking his shoulder and telling them they are there, wherever that is.

Danny went with him after all - looks like Sylar won the argument.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **0:16-0:38 **

He doesn't know where the hell Sylar has taken him but he's been left in what he guesses is a bedroom. Sylar is gone for now. Danny doesn't know where. He can't really quite bring himself to care where either. He knows lashing out at Sylar isn't the right answer and the guy did just pick him up and take him away when all Danny was capable of doing was screaming but there's something about the air around Sylar now that feels like guilt. Danny doesn't know what to make of it, especially after what Sylar had said before leaving.

He'd sat Danny down on the bed and stood before him silently until he finally murmured, "I'm going to ask you a few questions, okay? I only want a yes or no answer." Danny said nothing and Sylar took this as a sign to go ahead and ask.

"Are you hungry?"

Danny wonders in what universe that question is ever going to be appropriate at a time like this but he simply shakes his head.

"Is there anything you need? For your blindness, I mean."

There's a pause but then Danny nods slowly.

"Your stick?"

A nod.

"Okay." A longer pause. "Do you… do you know why you're parents were killed?"

It's another question that isn't really appropriate at that moment but Danny doesn't care about anything- propriety, politeness, ignorance, himself or anything. He shakes his head.

"… Do you want to?"

There's a strong reluctance in his voice and Danny's head jerks up at the words. There's a warning bell ringing in his head and he knows this can lead to nowhere any better than the pain he's already suffering but he nods anyway, ignoring the warning like he's ignoring the way his hands and knees are still aching with glass and blood.

Danny doesn't get a response for a long while and he wonders if Sylar is still there. He breathes so lightly sometimes that if Danny doesn't concentrate he's not sure the man is actually there.

"Because of me." Danny stares blankly, words failing him. He doesn't know if Sylar is blaming himself out of pity- that seems rather unlikely- or whether he really means that his parent's deaths were because of him. He wants to ask but he can barely coordinate his mouth enough to make it open and once he does it just hangs there loosely. Useless. Then Sylar speaks again. "I warned you. I told you to come with me."

Danny just stares without seeing anything. He just stares. "You… you knew?" It's the first thing he's said since he stopped screaming and his voice breaks with dead emotion and disuse.

"I knew it was… likely."

Danny doesn't say anything. Sylar leaves after a while and that brings it all back to Danny firmly shutting and locking the bedroom door and lying down on the bed. He's ramrod straight and his eyes are open, staring at the ceiling with his hands resting on his heart. He's not sure it's slowed its erratic beating since he opened the door to his house. He doesn't think it ever will.

When Sylar returns he can hear the man moving about in the rooms outside but when he hears the footsteps halt outside the bedroom he's in no way inclined to let the man inside.

He hears the handle turn but it doesn't open. "Danny…" Sylar murmurs his name like he's simply saying it, it's not a question. Danny wants to open the door and see what will happen but his mind feels as though its one wrong turn away from shattering into a million pieces so he doesn't. He's not in the right frame of mind to play Sylar's games. Not when he can still feel his mother's cold blood running over his fingers.

He hears Sylar speaking again but only catches the end of it.

"-you're a weakness…" Danny can't hear the rest but he hears Sylar slide to the floor, can hear banging against the door but it doesn't sound like he's trying to get in anymore. It sounds like he's just making the sound to make the sound.

He's not sure… but he thinks Sylar just said 'I love you'. Well, it's probably as close as the man will ever get to saying those words- but it's a decent equivalent.

Danny still doesn't open the door. Not until Sylar explains what the fuck is going on.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **0:38-0:51**

Sylar's gone again the next day. Danny can't hear him moving around anymore, plus he heard him leave a few hours ago.

Danny is dressed in his raggedy, bloody clothing that he didn't change out of and gone from the room as soon as he can convince himself standing is a worthwhile endeavour. He doesn't have his stick but he doesn't like it anyway. Its not bravery anymore, Danny feels too cold to feel brave, but he doesn't mind walking without any form of seeing other than as far as his hands can reach.

He ends up just stood in the street not very far from where Sylar had taken him to stay and he eventually discovered the exit from the rooms and stumbled his way down the stairs until he was surrounded by the noise of the cars going past and the people hurrying around him. He wonders aimlessly down the street a ways until he knows he can feel Sylar following him.

Without turning he just glares vaguely in the direction he can smell that cologne.

There's a clink of metal on plastic and then he can hear the spoon sliding into Sylar's mouth. There's a scent of vanilla and he knows the man is eating ice cream. Danny's glare intensifies and Sylar wordlessly lifts Danny's stiff hand to his shoulder. Danny wants to argue but he doesn't want to talk to Sylar. He's not in any position to argue as yet, though, so instead he lets himself be led.

Sylar lifts his other hand while the walk and presses his stick into his hand wordlessly. Danny doesn't say thank you. Sylar doesn't expect him to.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **0:51-1:04**

Back in the flat- Danny thinks it's a flat, he's not sure- he sits down and lets Sylar see his hands. The man couldn't really not be aware of the open wounds when removing Danny's hand from the taller's shoulder had left a large red stain in the cloth.

Sylar sighs wearily, clearly annoyed, as he begins pulling the glass out with a pair of tweezers and dabbing at the cuts with alcohol and Danny's pretty certain Sylar's using more than is necessary. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Danny hisses as the alcohol touches him. "Slipped my mind." He says through gritted teeth.

Sylar doesn't say anything in response and finished bandaging Danny's hands without a word. It's only when he returns from putting everything away that he speaks. Danny knows there's most of the room between them and feels slightly less cornered until Sylar starts encroaching on that large distance.

"I get that you're hurt, I do. I understand you don't want to talk about it but, for god's sake, Danny, why are you shutting me out?!" Sylar's angry. He doesn't like being ignored.

"You said it was your fault they were dead. What am I supposed to think?" Danny murmured, not looking in his direction at all. It wouldn't matter that he can't see, he generally tries to keep his head facing the person he's talking to and Sylar knows this. He knows that even though Danny can't see him, the smaller man is pointedly looking away.

"What does that mean?" Sylar's genuinely surprised. Danny thinks he would feel pleased if he wasn't so angry.

"You won't tell me anything. Other than your name I don't know jack-shit about you. All I know is I start seeing you and then my parents wind up dead within two months and you say it's all your fault after you've dragged me to a whole different city-" and it is, the air smells different "- and I'm effectively trapped with you."

It comes out so calmly and without any emotion. Danny hears Sylar turn away then whirl back around- can hear his shoes turning on the floor. "'Trapped'? Dammit, Danny, I saved you!"

Without missing a beat Danny looks up at him sharply. "From what, exactly?" The implication of _'you?'_ is heavy enough not to be misunderstood.

If Danny could see he would have seen Sylar jerk back in shock.

Danny stumbles his way back to the bedroom, shaking off Sylar when he tries to help him, and firmly locks the door. He's tired of wanting to be understanding when he's lost so much and Sylar's not giving anything.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **1:04-1:15 (warning for non-con and scene obviously not in vid)**

The next day Danny is waiting for Sylar to come back, from wherever it is the man goes, with his torn clothes back on despite having been handed some other clothes from Sylar. He's fiddling with his jacket and he can hear Sylar freeze when he sees him.

"Take me home." Sylar's never been good with orders and Danny knows it's not the best way to start but it gets his point across.

"W-what?"

"Take. Me. Home."

"You're not serious. Danny, there isn't a home back there for you to go to!"

"I have a brother- a sister too." _One I hope is being looked after_, he thinks. "I have friends, people I can stay with."

"You hate it here with me that much?" It's only been a few days but Danny guesses that the answer to that might be yes.

"I don't even know you."

Sylar growls- no, snarls. It's not a word and was probably not intended as one but it makes Danny jump and draw back as Sylar steps into his personal space, crossing the room far too quickly.

Danny cries out in alarm as Sylar seizes him by his collar and drags him into the bedroom, throwing him so hard onto the bed that he actually bounces on it before he's pinned down so firmly he can barely breathe. Sylar is surrounding him, wrists pinned and he tries to kick out but Sylar is unrelenting. Its only when he feels Sylar's hands tearing his shirt open that he realises his hands aren't pinned anymore.

He still can't move them though. Danny cries out again, this time panic, as he struggles like a trapped animal but whatever force is keep Danny down is strong- stronger than him. He stills when Sylar sinks his teeth into his neck. He gasps in pain, arching against the body above him, his head thrashing from side to side as long fingers work his trousers free and off.

"N-no!" There's blind terror in his voice and Danny can't catch his breath long enough to say anything other than two words over and over: "Sylar, no! No!"

But Sylar's not listening and the mouth releases his neck in favour of trailing down his chest. It is hot and wet and Danny finds himself enjoying it and that just makes everything so much worse. He's angry, he's confused, he's hurt and he just wants to push Sylar away and run as fast as he can. He doesn't even really care that he'd probably only get as far as the door before Sylar catches him- even if he could break free! He screams soundlessly as fingers wrap around his length and pull enough to make his legs kick out and his head throw back. No one has ever done this to him before- he doesn't think Sylar knows that but he doubts the knowledge of that would change a damn thing.

There's a thumb pressing roughly into his slit, he can feel the come leaking out already and all it takes is Sylar's mouth on his before Danny's screaming his released, his mind a haze of anger, betrayal and fear before he begins to sob as he calms. Slowly he feels the pressure pinning his wrists ease and he turns on his side, away from Sylar, and curls into a ball naked from the waist down and he cries. He's pretty certain that an orgasm isn't supposed to leave him feeling that hollow and empty and used.

Sylar doesn't say a word and Danny can hear him stagger back into the front room. The door shuts but Danny feels no urge to lock it. He's certain Sylar could break it down anyway- the man pinned him to the fucking bed _without touching him_- and while the symbol of it would be nice it would imply he trusts Sylar enough not to come in anyway.

Danny's not sure he does anymore.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **1:15-1:25**

_Danny's face contorted in unwanted pleasure, that look of betrayal and fear, the way he sounds screaming my name in pure terror-_

Sylar throws the papers away in disgust. He's angry- at himself, at Danny, at everyone! He doesn't acknowledge the person who asks him if he's alright. All he can hear is Danny crying himself to sleep and knowing he's fucked everything up again.

He just wanted to give Danny enough pleasure to not want to leave. Sylar doesn't quite get why he was met with so much fear and doesn't get further than thinking he's made Danny afraid of him. It doesn't even occur to him that he's the first to ever touch Danny like that.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **1:25-1:36**

Danny's watching Casablanca. Well, listening to it.

He's sat cross-legged on the corner of the bed farthest from the door with the telly blaring loudly. He knows every word by heart but he just lets the words envelop him and he doesn't think about anything. He knows Sylar is in the front room working on something. He thinks he's working, he hasn't asked.

He turns the telly up a little louder in hopes it'll shut his brain up a little more effectively.

He flinches when he turns his head and feels the bite on his neck stretch and ache. In a strange way, Danny isn't as shell-shocked anymore. Sylar's attack- that's the only way he can describe it adequately- has put all the anger and grief he feels for his parent's deaths in one direction and he hates that part of him wants to thank the man for giving him a way out from that crushing grief. He knows Sylar didn't do it for Danny's benefit though, so he keeps his mouth shut.

"I said I would never leave you." Danny mimics in time with the TV. It's his favourite line; he had always dreamed a girl would say that to him one day. He wouldn't be like Rick, though. He wouldn't let her go. He'd hang onto her forever. He remembers Leeza and let's go of that thought sharply.

Despite the fact that he's in a different room and Danny can't see him and certainly isn't talking to him, Sylar's head jerks up as he listens to Danny speak.

He gets up from the sofa and moves towards the door, hovering between indecision of possibly pushing something he knows shouldn't be pushed. But when the image of a glass shattering under too much pressure comes to mind he sits back down, his eyes scanning over his newly compiled list of names as he tries to ignore how much he wants to shove Danny back down onto the bed again. It almost outweighs his Hunger to get more power…

He's not sure Danny will survive it another unrelenting advance because Sylar knows he will take everything even if Danny isn't offering it.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **1:36-1:47**

Danny hears the bus pull up and hears Sylar's breath catch. Just by the way the fabric rustles at his neck Danny can imagine him looking between the bus and Danny even though he has no idea what Sylar or the bus or he himself looks like.

"Danny…"

Danny climbs on the bus and pointedly looks where he knows Sylar is not.

That morning Danny had escaped Sylar's flat again. Though Sylar had taken to locking him inside Danny didn't lift weights for show. It wasn't a very sturdy lock anyway, it broke after a few shoves.

He'd spent the entire day trying to figure out a way home and it wasn't until Danny was waiting for the bus- a nice old man informed him it would be along in a few moments if the time board was to be believed- that Sylar appeared. He had heard the running steps for a while but when they get close enough for Danny to smell that cologne Danny didn't need to hear Sylar's voice to know who it was at his side.

"I could take you home." Sylar had said. It wasn't an invitation. It was a threat. Danny shuddered and Sylar didn't say anything further. They both knew how easy it would be for Sylar to do whatever it was that he did that made him be able to pin down a fully grown man effortlessly and he'd be fully capable of dragging Danny home whether he liked it or not. But, if Sylar's silence was anything to go by, he wasn't going to do that. No he just watched Danny board the bus in conflicted silence.

Danny closed his eyes on the bus and tried to clear his mind completely. It didn't work.

He was wearing one of Sylar's shirts and all Danny had to do was breathe and that soft scent that was purely Sylar, not his cologne, filled his lungs.

Danny vaguely wondered if this was how Leeza felt: being powerlessly drawn to one man while being forced to push him away out of fear of something so much bigger than either of them. Only she had had another man to go to, a promise to keep and a certain future. Danny was alone now. Sylar's insistence that Danny's parent's deaths have been his fault kept him from running to friends or what was left of his family in case they were killed as well.

Plus he didn't want to answer their questions.

Danny didn't have answers. Sylar still wouldn't tell him anything. Only now Danny thinks it might be for his own protection rather than out of sheer stubbornness.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **1:47-1:52**

Sylar's listening to what's being said, he really is, when suddenly all he can hear is Danny's voice. He shakes his head slightly and tries to pretend he's not remembering a man, who may or may not have been important to him, with startling clarity.

He's pretty certain he doesn't have Eidetic Memory among his powers anymore so that crystal clear face shouldn't have been so clear.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **1:52-2:20**

Danny answers his phone before he even considers not doing so, gently running his fingers over the buttons until he can feel the right one and picking up. It's not like he can see the screen to know who's calling anyway.

"Hello."

His hearts in his throat before he knows what to do and he just chokes before letting out a strangled, "H-hey…" He doesn't even wonder how Sylar has his number; he thinks it would be strange for the man _not_ to, even with Danny having not given it.

Danny hasn't seen- encountered- anyone he knows since going back home. He's rented out a hotel room where he can order room service for food and there's not much clutter in the room so he can navigate fine without seeing. He just finds himself feeling a bit better being surrounded by familiarity. That vanishes however as he sits up sharply in bed, Sylar's voice bringing back conflicted memories he'd rather not consider and had been firmly forgetting since leaving.

"Let's talk." It's not a question. Danny doesn't want to think why that makes his stomach flutter. "Open your door."

Shakily, Danny stands and moves over to his door. Lowering the phone from his ear he grips the handle tightly, trying to still his shaking as he opens the door. He doesn't see a thing but he can smell Sylar. Not his cologne, he can smell the man beneath that and he can't help it but he relaxes. His shaking stops and he's tempted to smile but he's still a little afraid of the man.

"I… I need to tell you some things. It's quite a lot, actually. Do you mind if I come in?"

"You tracked me all the way here; it'd be rude if I shut the door now."

"Quite…" Sylar doesn't mention that Danny wasn't hiding very well.

They sit down and after what is probably the most awkward silence of Danny's life Sylar tells him everything. Everything. Superpowers, his past, his real name, the people he's killed- and Danny can tell he's glossing over that as quickly as he can- and the problem of his Hunger.

Suddenly that conversation, which seemed years ago but was actually only a few months, makes so much sense. Sylar had been testing him, seeing if he even had the capacity at all to understand why someone might murder. Sure he doesn't understand it like how Sylar explains it but a lot of what Sylar says he doesn't understand.

So he tells him as much. "I don't… really understand most of what you just said but… but I…" If Danny could see he would see Sylar not looking at him, as it is he can feel that intense gaze not on him and knows Sylar's waiting. He can feel the rigid man sat near him as if they were pressed together, the tension pervading the air like syrup. "But I want to… to try to." He doesn't know what he's just done- doesn't know whether he's given redemption to Sylar or fallen himself and signed away his soul but deep down its all he can say. Murder still makes his stomach clench and his morals scream like crazy and there's no way he's approving any of it but he asked Sylar to tell him everything and the man has.

There's a pause so short Danny barely blinks before Sylar replies, eyes still not on him, "I don't think you know what you're saying." Danny jerks back, surprised at what he's hearing. "But you asked so I told." Danny just gapes, truly too shocked for words at this point.

Sylar doesn't leave, however, and Danny doesn't ask him to. He just pulls out some spare blankets for the man so he'll sleep comfortably on the sofa.

They don't discuss Sylar's past again that night.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **2:20-2:26 (there is a scene of Sylar here that is not commented on but it's why Sylar isn't at the restaurant.)**

Hiding in the bathroom, of all places, is probably not the best place, Danny thinks in hindsight. But he's been stood up and he has a right to feel more than a little conflicted about that.

He's not entirely sure why Sylar didn't turn up. After their talk yesterday it seemed like it was Danny's turn to extend some sort of offering so he suggested dinner. It's probably not the brightest idea in the world but it usually works with women. It's getting further than that he usually has a problem with but with Sylar it seems to be the other way round. Danny still doesn't know how he feels about Sylar- the terrifying way he'd been pinned down and violated still rather fresh in his memory- and add to that the knew knowledge of just how dangerous the man is… well, at least he can tell Sylar's confused as well.

Not enough for the man to truly show it but there's enough hesitation in his answer to let Danny know he's not the only one terribly unsure of just what the fuck is going on. But standing him up? That's a bit low.

Not even a phone call…

He stands up, gets his coat and leaves. No point hanging around.

He's already waited two hours.

He puts the tears down to his lack of time grieving over the loss of his family and a life he's not sure he'll ever get back- not because he feels very, very alone.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **2:26-2:35 (I read a lot into this)**

"You didn't even call." Danny says.

Sylar snorts. Danny's really starting to hate that sound. "I wasn't really in any position to."

"What do you mean by that?!" He slams his hand down on the bench he's sat on; satisfied with the way the pain shoots up his hand. It distracts him, if only for a moment.

There's a huff of breath and he can feel Sylar roll his eyes, the exasperation obvious but Danny's not a mind-reader so Sylar's going to have to tell him the things that he expects Danny to know. They're already backpedalling and they haven't really gone that far forward but Danny's pretty sure Sylar's been killing again. When he says as much he can feel the icy glare on him, the words spat out between gritted teeth telling him all of the expression he can't see.

"Actually, I'm trying pretty hard _not_ to."

That surprises Danny as he hasn't expressly told Sylar he doesn't like the fact he kills people a lot. He hasn't said anything about that yet, he was getting to it but things were much too unstable to try compromising but Sylar was doing it all on his own- assuming that that was what Danny wanted. Blue eyes that can't see light up brightly and Danny reaches blindly for Sylar's hand.

"Let's go get some lunch." He flashes a smile that Sylar hasn't seen a long while. "At least if I hold your hand I know you won't disappear on me."

Sylar says nothing but follows- the blind of sight leading the blind of mind- and they end up, after buying some food, sat cross-legged on the grass of the park. The park where the first met. Danny smiles as he remembers, chewing quietly as he grins and he knows Sylar is remembering as well because he can hear the man's soft smile slowly curling one lip. It's a smile that means Sylar won't admit he's amused but he really is.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **2:35-2:50**

Sylar's standing on top of the roof of the hotel. He's not gone far from Danny but far enough to breathe different air for a while. It's pouring rain and if he knows Danny, and he thinks he does, then the younger man will be curled up by the window listening to the rain with his ear pressed against the cool glass.

"_I don't even know you!" _Danny didn't- doesn't really- know Sylar. But he's staying with him regardless. Sylar wants to think that's a good sign. A sign he's not going to have to silence the kid from ever revealing all he knows anyway. He doesn't like killing innocents, he hates it but-

"_You're a weakness."_

… Sylar can't have a weakness.

_Danny smiles as he munched on his sandwich_, shy and endearing and all those stupid things Sylar's not sure he wants to ever feel again but he can't dispute the fact that the smile made his hunger abate… just a little. It didn't feel as necessary to know everything and own every power and be the best… not when… not when that smile was on him.

He rotated his neck slowly, feeling the cold water running down his back and soaking all of his clothes. His hair was stuck tightly to his face and he's pretty certain his clothes are going to take hours to dry.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **2:50-3:01**

Danny opens his eyes when he hears the door to the bedroom open. He stiffens involuntarily when he smells Sylar's scent approach the bed.

"Its okay, I'm not… I mean, I won't-" Sylar stops, swallows audibly and moves over to the window. It's no longer raining. Danny can't hear the pattering on the window so he's pretty sure it's stopped. "Don't worry about that anymore." The man by the window says after a while.

But Danny has been worrying about it, for a long time. Every day since it happened. What worries him the most is that he's sort of… not against it happening again. When he voices this tentative thought he can hear Sylar spinning on his heel and that intense gaze on him, he blushes under it, his fists clenching in the covers.

"Are you…" Sylar doesn't finish. He doesn't need to.

Danny flashes him a nervous smile. "Well, I'm pretty sure it'd be nice to have a say in the matter this time but yeah… I'm sure. I think."

"You think?"

He blushes more. "I've er… never really… done anything like this before." He can feel, just feel Sylar's eyes widen. Oh. So he didn't know? Hm, ah well. Can't be helped now.

He jumps when he hears Sylar rush across the room. He ends up just kneeling at the side of the bed, and asks, "Are you serious?"

Danny laughs. "Yeah… it'd be kind of a crap joke, don't you think? 'I'm a grown man who's never had sex before' yeah, real funny." Humour leaving for the moment he aligns his face to look down himself and not at Sylar, seeing or not, the weight of the man's gaze is enough and he isn't sure he can say the next bit with that weight on him. "Being blind… isn't really a great helper when it comes to attracting people. Anyone really."

Sylar doesn't say anything. Danny feels his hands press gently on his shoulders and suddenly he's lying back on the bed with Sylar's lips against his. It's the first time they've kissed since that night and it's a knee-jerk reaction that has Danny stiffening like marble before closing his eyes and letting Sylar kiss him, opening his lips and letting that hot probing tongue into his mouth, slipping his tongue up to caress against Sylar's slowly. It's much slower than before and, though the intensity that Sylar is never without doesn't seem gone, there's less of an uncontrollable fury behind it.

When he slips his hands around the back of Sylar's head, twining them in soft hair, Danny can feel Sylar stiffen but when all Danny does is caress the back of his neck and doesn't pull or push or try to control anything Sylar lets them remain there. It feels like as big of a step for Sylar to relinquish control as it was for Danny to even consider letting Sylar on the bed with him again. Sure Danny couldn't stop him but he actually invited him this time. That had to be a significant step.

Sylar moves to lie over him Danny parts his legs slightly, allowing Sylar to settle with their chests pressed together and their groins to contact. Sylar swallows the moan Danny can't keep hold of, pressing down firmly and making Danny clutch at Sylar's back as tightly as he can, rocking back desperately.

He's never done this before but as long as Sylar isn't laughing at him or leaving him then Danny's going to pray he's doing the right thing.

When it looks as though Sylar's still not sure this is what Danny wants, Danny pulls Sylar's shirt up and runs his fingers down that lightly furred chest, shivering as the warm hairs rub against his fingertips. It's all the urging Sylar needs as his shirt is thrown off and Danny's soon follows it. Chest to chest Danny gasps into the light kisses Sylar is pressing over his mouth, parting his lips enough to make Danny arch upwards and try to deepen them but not staying close enough for it to be achieved. When Danny whines Sylar laughs lowly, a rumble in his chest that Danny feels more than hears, and kisses Danny properly.

It's enough that Sylar's not turning away in disgust, Danny thinks. He could die a happy man, that part of him that could never quite get over the rejection of all those women or let go of the probability it all revolved around him being blind was on fire beneath Sylar's hands and it felt wrong that he knew all the wrong this man had done and yet he was making Danny arch into his touch.

He should be staying away from this dangerous man who can do such unnatural things with a thought but he is pulling Sylar closer, crushing them together until he's partly assured Sylar won't disappear if he lets go. Which he doesn't. But Sylar doesn't seem to mind.

However, there's only so much controlling Sylar can take and when he breaks free he instinctively pins Danny down by his wrists.

There's a sharp shudder and Danny's eyes blow wide- terror making his jaw slack- and he stiffens instantly. Sylar froze, remaining perfectly still even though he thinks that maybe he should move or let go or something! But when Danny gasps a breath and jerkily thrusts against him he knows Danny's trying. He really is trying to forgive Sylar- for everything. For all the lives he's ended and all the mistakes he's made and even though Sylar doesn't really see them as mistakes- he knows they are, just can't see them that way- it makes him that much more determined to keep Danny.

Sylar offers no excuse for why their trousers and underwear dissolve into nothing the next second, disintegrating and leaving them with nothing between them. It's worth it if only for the shocked cry that has Danny throwing his head back when their erections are suddenly sliding together without restriction. Still… he'll have to slow down next time; he had wanted Danny to feel as he slowly pulled down his pants.

Danny's brain is melting- he's sure of it! There has to be some superpower Sylar hasn't told him about that is making him this unhindered and primal. He wants so much and while he's not quite sure what the want is for he knows it won't end with anything he can tell his little sister about. Ever.

One thrust against him is all it takes for Danny to cry out in such a wanton way it has Sylar's eyes widening with desire. He can't recall a time anyone was so easy and unafraid around him. Just watching Danny's boyish face overcome with ecstasy and his lips frame his name over and over again is enough to let Sylar know that this isn't going to be one of his major fuck-ups. He won't let it.

"Danny…" A keening cry is all he gets in reply as his fingers ghost over Danny's stomach, feeling the tense muscles quiver at his touch. "I need you to trust me…" He can feel Danny tense and sees Danny falter. He can feel the uncertainty from where his hands rest on the body beneath him but he just waits.

"O-okay…" Sylar grins, entirely too smug. Danny doesn't see but he can feel it and he shudders.

Leaning over until his breath is against Danny's ear, feeling the younger's own breath hitch at the sensation, Sylar whispers softly, "Turn over." And he can feel Danny jolt. There's shock, fear, anticipation and a lot of lust that shoots through Danny then and Sylar just lets it all register before watching with mild satisfaction as Danny shakily obeys.

Lying face down on the bed with his head turned to the side he concentrates on breathing when he hears a cap pop behind him. He jumps when he hears something slick rubbing against another slick surface and then all he knows is there is something fucking cold up his ass and he cries out in alarm, tensing and then all he knows is the pain. He's scrabbling for a hold on the covers so he can pull himself free and away but Sylar's pinning him again and he's not nearly calm enough to deal with that as he panics further.

A hand clamps over his mouth and Danny's pretty certain that's Sylar's favourite way of silencing him. "Danny, Danny, ssh. It's okay. Just relax. Everything will be fine." He wants to shout and be angry and demand to be let go but Sylar's hand wont let go of his mouth so all he can do is whimper and squeeze his eyes tight against the burning in his rear. "I told you to trust me, Danny." Sylar reminds him in a low voice.

He's trembling, he knows he is. But he's new to this and he deserves a little patience but all the warning Danny gets before another finger is shoved along side the first is a tightened grip around his mouth to silence the scream Sylar knew was coming.

As it is, it's not silenced enough to not know what it is. It's muffled but it's a shriek and Danny's not struggling, he's pressing his face into the covers and shaking with pain and the uncomfortable feeling. The hand is gone from his face and he can scream if he wants but the hand is now carding through his hair and Sylar is 'shushing' him gently, a soft voice in his ear as he remains perfectly still and the fingers don't so much as twitch until Danny catches his breath and he's no longer fighting down tears.

"You have to relax." On order. "It's just me." A plea. "I won't hurt you." A lie or a promise, Danny can't decide. Either way Danny can feel himself relaxing. The burning subsides to a strange uncomfortable ache and he flexes around the fingers, hearing Sylar hiss in pleasure at the feeling so he does it again. "Don't test me." Sylar hisses into his ear and Danny stills instantly. He's not sure if he's more afraid or aroused, it's a balance between them until his legs are pushed apart and his spread so wide and so vulnerable and he buries his face into the covers to avoid letting Sylar see his face. He doesn't know what he looks like but he's pretty certain it'll be uncontrolled and whore-like, god… the sounds he is making- Danny is pretty sure he's heard these noises coming from those hookers Larry hangs around with.

The fingers shift just a little and Danny trembles as they scissor. The cold feeling of the lube- because he isn't so naïve not to know what that is- is gone and Sylar's fingers are wet and warm and are stretching him so fully. One crook of his fingers has Danny arching up, bucking back and moaning out Sylar's name into the sheets.

He's relaxed now so the third finger slips in much slower and much easier. It still aches a bit but Sylar's being a lot gentler now. Danny doesn't want to hear himself, he knows he's making obscene sounds but he can't stop them from tumbling out any less than he can stop from thrusting back. He can hear himself asking- begging- for something more but Sylar's not moving to any other pace than his own. It doesn't even occur to him to remember to use a condom- not like he has one on him anyway- but when Sylar slips his fingers free he doesn't want anything between them. There's already enough barriers he's sure will never come down, adding to them would be senseless.

He can feel the head of Sylar's cock just resting against his stretched entrance and he whines deep in his throat- he's so close and Sylar hasn't even touched him!- but the taller man isn't moving though Danny can feel his trembling hands on his hips. Words are beyond Danny at this point but he moans again and he can feel Sylar smirk against his neck. It's definitely a smirk, just one corner of his mouth is curled up in smug amusement and Danny can't really bring himself to care he's being teased; all he knows is Sylar's not giving him what he wants. It doesn't escape his attention that a few hours ago this scenario would have just been a filthy, horny dream in the back of his mind. He's too aroused to question anything- hell, if he won't press Sylar for answers to things he knows the man won't tell he's not going to analyse this too much. That would be looking a gift horse in the mouth.

"Push back." An order again but Danny's painfully aware of how strong Sylar is- powers or not- and how he could force Danny back or push forwards. Sylar wants Danny to do it and somehow that's more erotic than anything Danny's ever felt in his whole life.

Shakily swallowing, Danny manoeuvres his legs enough to give him lever to push his hips up. One hand is holding Sylar's length steady while the other is gripping the man's angular hip. He's got his legs spread as wide as he can but he's not kneeling on the bed so the angle isn't good enough to push back with. But it's okay because Sylar's had enough teasing and with one sharp thrust he's fully inside Danny.

The blue eyed man doesn't even have time to process the odd sensation of just the tip of Sylar pushing into him before he's filled to an impossible degree and it hurts so damn much and he can't help but scream and those tears are totally acceptable because it fucking _hurts!_

"Danny, relax!" Sylar's voice is hot and strained and Danny's glad he's not the only one struggling here.

"I-I c-can't!" He's embarrassed that even though Sylar can't see his face his voice betrays the fact that he's crying and he's in a lot of pain. He can feel Sylar's hand snake underneath his raised hips and slowly stroke his erection, bringing it back to full hardness and making him pant heavily. "Sylar…" It's comes out like a hiss but they can both feel Danny relaxing slowly, just enough for Sylar to rotate his hips and move a little in Danny.

He presses, just slightly, against Danny's prostate and catches him around his torso as the younger jolts up. Pushing Danny forwards so his hands were supporting him on the headboard of the hotel bed Sylar uses the new angle to thrust in earnest. Danny groans and murmurs words that he can't remember with each thrust, arching his back and meeting each movement halfway until he feels Sylar's hand close around his cock and he just screams his release. He thinks he should be embarrassed it took so little contact before he came but when he clenches around Sylar he can feel the man's length pulse inside of him before he gasps harshly as Sylar's filling him with his own release and Danny's pretty sure that's he's being burnt by the heat he can feel pooling in his ass.

They collapse boneless to the bed and Danny can feel Sylar breathing in his ear, his cock still in Danny's ass even though it's soft now. It's a little uncomfortable and one shift would pull them apart but Danny doesn't move.

Eventually it's Sylar who pulls them apart, gathering the covers and pulling them under them.

Danny tries not to let it bother him when he hears Sylar leave not long after.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **3:01-3:25**

Danny doesn't say a word but he can feel Sylar stood at the end of the bed, the man's scent is surrounding him again and he can feel the heavy gaze on him. He just breathes and tries to turn his head to where he thinks he can hear Sylar is stood. It's probably off by at least a little but the feeling that they are looking at each other is enough to make Danny's toes curl.

He's no longer afraid. Not really. Against all logic and sense he's happier than he has been for a long while.

He hears Sylar shift his stance and move slowly over to the bed. Danny smirks and shakes his head a little before beckoning the man down for a kiss. Sylar falters for a moment and Danny's smirk becomes a gentle smile. He doesn't realise Sylar's jerked back because he can see something in Danny's face he's not really sure he can handle. Danny isn't Sylar's weakness because Sylar loves him- Sylar doesn't really like to think he knows what the word means and he certainly tries not to use it- he's a weakness because he's fascinating. But Danny's not got a look of fascination on his face and it's making Sylar freeze.

"You didn't have to leave, you know." Danny says after a moment. He sighed contently. "I would have preferred you stayed."

Sylar just stares in a mixture of surprise and trepidation. He shrugs slightly, knowing full well Danny can't see the action, but leans down and gives Danny the kiss he had gestured for. He won't tell him Danny's got to go home, not yet. Sylar's spent the past few weeks making sure no one from the Company is going to come after Danny anymore- his family and he will be safe- but Sylar knows the hardest part will be letting go. Sylar sort of likes this new fascination and its intriguing even more that his hunger is fed just by seeing what reactions he can garner from him.

But he wants the familiarity of doing what he's always done- making himself the best. And Danny's a weakness he won't allow anymore. Feeling Danny's hands curl around his shoulders he comes to a decicsion.

He'll send Danny home tomorrow.

He's not quite ready to let go today.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **END**

List of Sylar's power used in order of use:

- Clairsentience (It's not explained but that's why he picks up Danny's stick, sensing if he's a threat or not)

- Alchemic Transmutation (He turned Danny's coffee into a cold, weightless gas and then back again)

- Telekinesis (He _does _use his telekinesis to catch Danny's stick before it hits the floor)

- Electric Manipulation (He's attacking another person with a power on the court- a woman but I couldn't decide who)

- Rapid Cellular Regeneration (Obviously where he's hurt and has healed within seconds)

- The pointed finger extended to him? Yeah, Sylar was seriously about to kill him before Danny touched him and he felt Danny's total innocence and couldn't kill an innocent.

- Lie Detection (When Danny and he are discussing why someone might murder he sense that Danny is being honest about his answer)

- Disintegration (Of clothes…)

Apologies if some of these are incorrect but I only had Wikipedia to go by. Do not ask why but while writing that looooong sexing scene I was listening to MetroStation- Shake it. XD

Hope you enjoyed this craaazy begining of a looooong story.


	2. A Blind Man's Kiss

T**itle:** Blind Kisses  
**Author: **Akaiba  
**Rating:** NC-17 (you have been warned)  
**Disclaimer:** Were any of the characters Zachary Quinto and Chris Pine portray mine (or indeed the actors themselves) I would not have time to post fanfiction. ;)  
**Characters/Pairings:** Sylar(Heroes)/Danny(Blind Dating)  
**Summary:** AU (obviously) Danny doesn't take to well to being abandoned and Sylar is rethinking whether its Danny who needs him or he who needs Danny.

It is advised, however, that you read this fic in tandem with Lorlo7's vid (MINUS THE SPACES) http:// www . youtube . com / watch?v=JAVGgtqxnQw

~o~S~o~D~o~ **0:00-0:11**

If there's one thing Sylar is proud he can say it is that he tried.

No really, he did.

He tried to be that person he knew Danny wanted him to be- whether he'd say it or not is irrelevant… Sylar just knows. It's not as though Danny could be who he was and not wish for a more stable… whatever.

Derailing that thought quickly Sylar blinks slowly and tries not to finish that sentence. He doesn't know- or he pretends he doesn't- what they are- _were_- and he's not going to think about it. Trying to reconcile with the past is futile. He, better than anyone, knows this all too well. He won't try to explain what he was thinking or feeling at the time but all he will admit is that for a brief few months he was fucking happy.

The lights overhead flicker and illuminate and his head tilts up slowly. He's still remembering the feel of Danny's lips against his and he's not willing to let go of it for whatever the hell it is HRG wants now.

Getting up he turns, his eyes not open just yet, and simply lets the memory fade away on it's own before messing with the man he knows has come to see him.

They talk, he thinks. He's not going to give this man a thing while he can still remember what it feels like to have Danny wrapped around his body. He can feel that urge- that _hunger_- stirring in interest and he doesn't really focus on how but he's gone from that cell before he considers where he's going. HRG will think he's gone after Claire, he won't. Not yet.

It's not like they can stop him anyway. He wouldn't have been in the cell in the first place if he didn't _want _to be there.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **0:11-0:15**

Danny doesn't acknowledge Marie's friends as he walks past. He used to at least say hello but he can't anymore. He doesn't know why but it doesn't seem appropriate. He can feel their disappointed eyes on his back but he can't bring himself to care. He's taking his sweet time heading back home- which is Larry's flat now- because he doesn't want to feel their worried stares on him just yet.

He understands though, turning up after going missing for days on end after their parent's murders is a bit suspect. What with him being the one that found them first but the police, try as they might, can't pin anything on him. Which as a relief. It'd suck if he got blamed for killing the two people who brought him into the world.

Larry can't seem to let it go and while Marie is happy to pretend everything's okay Larry's insistence on talking about the matter is making that façade more difficult to maintain than it could be. At least now Danny's there Marie's not afraid to cry anymore. Larry doesn't know what to do with a crying sister and while he's doing his best to calm his eccentric lifestyle and make his flat a place a fourteen year old girl can live he's still not able to offer comfort. It's not something his entirely masculine mind can cope with.

Marie's not afraid to let Danny hold her and rock her to sleep though. Being fourteen and coping with such a massive loss when your older brothers- the only anchors you have anymore- are constantly at each other's throats… Danny can understand why she can't cope most nights.

Danny tries to ignore that he's stroking her face while she sleeps- exactly like Sylar used to do for him.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **0:15-0:26**

The feeling of power coursing through his body feels fantastic. He's in control and he's a threat and the people before him are terrified. That fear alone laps at him like a drug, feeding that hunger he can't tame. It's not enough, though. He's making Peter shake but Matt won't back down and while he loves a challenge he wants them to beg for a mercy he won't give- wants them to beg for an escape so he can deny it and watch them break.

His words are cold and sadistic and it feels good to be mentally and physically superior- dominant in every way. Sylar can't help the way his lip curls in pleasure as he hears the bullets ring off at him. He freezes them in the air and the surprise and terror he can see in Matt's eyes is enough to make him want to hold on to this moment a little longer.

With a flash of anger he's dead and Sylar can feel that hunger swallow him whole but it's not enough!

It hasn't been enough since he said goodbye.

~o~S~o~D~o~** 0:26-0:38**

He's covered in blood. Soaked in it. He can feel it sticking to his skin through his shirt and the people he's killed in the last few weeks number higher than ever but he's not satisfied.

It's not even a conscious act when he takes out his phone and its ringing before he blinks but he doesn't need to check the screen to know who his subconscious is crying out for. He's not dependent or needy or any of that utter crap that makes his skin crawl with disgust but he'd be lying if it wasn't obvious his hunger had found a new outlet.

When Danny answers he almost sighs at the voice. Its been a long time since he's heard that voice and while a month or two isn't _that_ long… for his focus and drive for instant gratification its longer than can ever be excused.

"Hello." Sylar says in a low voice. He can't help it but that voice brings back so many memories he knows probably won't be repeated without it being classed as rape- and he's not going back there again- but he's content to just hear him for now.

He can hear Danny's voice hitch. Of course he didn't know who it was- he's blind. He can't read the screen and thus the surprise. Not that he's as tightly wound as Sylar is, no.

Denial is a wonderful medicine to any thoughts he might have that could deter him from his power hunting. Convince himself it's not on offer and he won't take it. But he's taken it before when it wasn't on offer.

The silence drags on for only a moment.

He's not surprised when Danny hangs up on him.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **0:38-0:42**

His mind is made up.

He needs to see Danny _now_.

Fuck reason, fuck logic and fuck the world.

Sylar's angry, 'hungry' and damn if he's not a little desperate to prove he's at least tried to change. For Danny's sake.

But he can't bring himself to go.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **0:42-0:49**

Sylar called.

He'd called him.

He'd said hello.

In that deep voice.

Danny was vaguely aware of the noise of the basketball court behind him but all he could hear was those whispered baritones in his mind.

He'd hung up out of shock and anger. Sylar couldn't expect him to come crawling back now, could he? Well… Danny was prepared to give him a swift correction of that thought should he try contacting him again. He's closed off his heart completely now- two broken hearts is more than this broken man can take- and if anyone so much as tries to get in he's going to rip them apart.

Or he likes to think he will. To be honest, he's too hungry for affection to really say no and that makes him feel more pathetic than the 71 missed calls he left on Sylar's phone after Sylar left him.

~o~S~o~D~o~** 0:49-1:01**

Sylar's waiting for the bus. He's trying to find his way to Danny and he can't help but fidget slightly as the knowledge he's being hunted down by the Company won't leave him alone.

_Claire's screaming and struggling but he's got her pinned-_

He's not that person anymore! He shakes his head but the image won't leave.

_His hand extends and with a finger pointed out he draws in the air and watches her skin rip apart-_

He's trying! He can feel that hunger swallowing him and can't think straight but killing won't sate it anymore and he's not sure he wants to kill more people. He won't deny the rush of power still makes him tingle and ache but when nothing can be gained from it anymore… it feels pointless. The powers that fill him make him feel only a fragment of the fulfilment he used to.

Sylar wants something that will last.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **1:01-1:13**

Sylar's lying face down in the dirt and he's pretty sure that breathing in sand and small pebbles isn't good for you.

There are hands turning him over and voices asking if he's okay. He finds he can breathe a bit better on his back but having the shit kicked out of him by vengeful goody-goody's too noble to finish the job is still damn painful no matter which way he's lying.

He blinks blearily and gasps, "-anny?" But he can barely make a sound beyond a painful scratching sound so he just breathes, staring up at a face he's pretty sure is an illusion but he'll go with it. There are fuzzy edges to his vision and though he knows he won't die from this- he can't- he almost wishes he could. Staring up at that face he could die a happy man. But Danny's eyes are actually seeing him so he knows that whoever it is over him it's not Danny, he's seeing things again.

"You okay, man? Damn, you've been hit pretty hard. Just try and stay still-" The rest of the sentence isn't heard. Not by Sylar anyway.

"Danny…" He murmurs again before blackness claims him again.

When he wakes up he's in a better condition and he's gone from the house he'd been taken to without so much as poking around. He's going to find Danny _now_.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **1:13-1:17**

He can't quite believe Danny's sat less than 10 feet from him. That distance would be smaller but anytime he tries to move closer Danny's eyes narrow at the noise his shoes make on the basketball court ground and in no uncertain terms he tells Sylar to 'stay the fuck away'. Sylar thinks it might be wise to obey that order.

Danny's not looking at him now. Whether he can see him or not Sylar likes the feel of those blue eyes at least in his direction. But he's not going to ruin what he's got and he's going to try his best- again- to make Danny listen.

"I'm sorry. Hurting you was not my intention."

Danny scoffs. It's such a Sylar sound but from Danny it sounds wrong and jarring. He just shakes his head and doesn't say a word. It doesn't even matter that he can sense the sincerity in Sylar's voice, there is no way that _that_ is going to give him forgiveness. Sylar doesn't stop him when he leaves but Danny can feel Sylar's eyes on him until he's round the corner. That gaze has gotten no less heavy or intense since he last felt it.

Danny tries to ignore the way his heart is pounding in his chest like it wants to burst free.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **1:17-1:23**

Sylar screams. The situation he's in has very little to do with Danny but all he can see when he closes his eyes is that soft face and a beaming smile and all he can think is what a massive mistake he's made.

He slams his hand down hard and screams again for good measure.

In that instance he sees what he has to do. He's got to choose between the life he has now- killing every person stronger than him and taking their powers into himself and becoming the greatest he can be- or Danny.

He can't have both. He tried that and he ended up with neither.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **1:23-1:47**

Danny's eyelids flicker.

"_You have to." Sylar's voice is firm but theirs a pleading behind it. "It's not as if either of us has a choice in the matter."_

Danny opens his eyes but the memory that plagues his dreams over and over again won't fade and even with waking he can hear everything exactly as it was then.

"_Stop making this harder than it is, Danny!" Sylar's yelling, demanding Danny sees things the way he sees them but Danny can't. He can neither see physically or metaphorically. He won't ever understand if Sylar doesn't explain it. _

Danny sighs. He can hear his sister's breathing from where she's sleeping. There are not enough rooms for them to have a room each so Danny rooms with Marie. He often wishes he didn't if only so that he could cry over a pain entirely different than the pain of losing his parents and she wouldn't see.

"_Please listen to me, Danny!" He's never heard Sylar beg before. It's scarier than it should be._

Danny can't block the memory so he just lets it swallow him. He heard something that night that he never thought he'd ever hear.

He heard Sylar cry.

_There's a strange strangled noise from Sylar and Danny's head cocks, shock overtaking him. He reaches out slowly and his fingers brush under Sylar's right eye and he can feel wetness. There's just one tear and somehow that seems more powerful than the streaks on Danny's face. _

Danny doubts that will ever happen again. He doesn't know what to make of it though; he doesn't understand why Sylar pulled him so close one moment and then abandoned him the next and he won't understand until Sylar explains.

_He swiped his thumb over that tear and dried Sylar's cheek even as his own eyes began to leak again. He can feel Sylar breathing heavily against his wrist and there's a hand wrapped around his against Sylar's face but Danny knows Sylar isn't looking at him. Danny feels cold without that gaze on him and when Sylar pushes him away fully he feels even colder. _

Needing to do something to rid himself of the tension in his body he gets up and shuffles to the door before shutting it firmly. Marie insists on leaving it open for comfort reasons so she can see out into the living room and assure herself no one is out there. Settling back down on to his bed Danny swears he can hear Sylar banging on the door and asking for Danny to open it.

Door to the room or door to his heart- either way, Sylar's never getting in again.

Danny doesn't sleep that night.

~o~S~o~D~o~** 1:47-2:04**

_There's a frantic pulse beating against his hand where he's gripping Peter by his throat and it's all he can do not to squeeze just a little harder and feel that breath falter and increase in fear. He's got Mohinder pinned to the damn ceiling for goodness sake- he's in control of them both and it's just a shame he's not in control of himself. _

Sylar blocks out the memory sharply. It wouldn't be very helpful to lose concentration with a razor held at his own throat, he thinks as he calmly shaves away the stubble that he's let grow since he became Sylar. It's a return to something- some_one_- he didn't think he could ever be again but he's once again going to try. He might not succeed but he's going to try and that's all he can offer. He's going to become someone Danny can be with without fear of attack or murder or loss or pain… well, genetic evolution related versions of those anyway.

Running a comb through his hair he doesn't know how to react to the face he sees in the mirror. It's him and yet not him.

Breathing out slowly he heads to work. Yeah… to work. It doesn't feel right somehow, that a man as painted in blood as he is now has a 9 to 5 job. But he's changed his name back to Gabriel Gray. He doubts the Company will be able to find him and if they do he knows he can fight well enough to protect himself. The only part in all of this that he's a little nervous about is that fact that he has moved to Danny's hometown.

But determination is written into what's left of his soul and he's not going to back down now.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **2:04-2:11**

The door of the shop chimes and Sylar- Gabriel, have to get used to answering to that- is idly sifting through order forms, his mind entirely elsewhere, and he doesn't look up. He's not in the front of the shop anyway. The owner is.

"Gabriel." Sylar sighs and puts down the forms. Of course, it doesn't matter who's in the front or who's in the back. Even his boss acknowledges Sylar can make repairs and assemblies faster and to a more skilled degree than he can so a lot of the work falls to him. It irritates him but he's also grateful because when his mind is occupied with work it's not drifting to other matters. "Can you please see to this customer? I just have to run outside for something."

Sylar's lie detecting ability is ringing loudly in his ear but he brushes it off and moves into the front room, nodding to his boss and lifting his magnification glasses to his face before looking at the customer and he just freezes.

Danny is resting with his arms on the counter and a small smile- that ever present one- on his lips. His head is vaguely facing him and Sylar's immediately pulled into those bright eyes. His attention is pulled away when Danny speaks. "We're here to get a watch fixed."

Sylar nods slowly and when Danny pats a young girls head at his shoulder he notices her for the first time.

She's smiling brightly and her resemblance to Danny is uncanny-

"_I have a brother- a sister too."_

- this must be that sister. Her eyes are as blue as his but her hair is long and darker than his, curling around her shoulders. She's holding her brothers hand tightly and Sylar knows he shouldn't be jealous but he can't help it.

She presents him with her hand and in it is a pink watch with a leather strap. It's not ticking and Sylar's mind immediately begins trying to think what's made it break before he can stop it, he takes it from her gently.

He could use his sound manipulation to make his voice sound different, he knows he could, but he doesn't want to. He wants Danny to know it's him and he so damn curious to see what will happen he just leans a little closer over the counter and murmurs, "I'll try to fix it. Please, come back in an hour and it will hopefully be fixed." He could see the recognition the moment he leaned in. He's wearing the same cologne he always wears and he knows Danny is damn familiar with that scent.

Danny draws back sharply. That open, friendly expression that was on his face is gone and it's as though Sylar can see the walls slam shut before him.

There's a tense moment where the girl is looking between them with a confused expression before Sylar see's Danny's grip on her hand tighten just a little. "Come on, Marie. You heard the man; it'll be done in an hour. Let's go."

Both Sylar and the girl can hear the restraint in his voice and Marie looks very worried before frowning at Sylar as they leave. Sylar watches them go and doesn't move until he can't smell Danny in the air anymore.

The watch will be fixed in about fifteen minutes. It's collecting himself that will take an hour.

He needn't have bothered, though. Danny sends Marie in on her own with the money. Her gaze is scrutinizing but Sylar's withstood far worse and she leaves more curious than when she walked in. It's enough for Sylar that he could see Danny through the glass door the entire time.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **2:11-2:15**

Of all the stupid ideas Sylar's had this one has to be the worst.

He's broken into the flat where Danny and his siblings live and is stood before the bed of a very awake Danny. Adding to the list of reasons why it's a stupid thing to have done Danny's sister- Marie, he thinks- is asleep on her own bed not two foot from where they are and Danny's older brother- Larry? Maybe…- is due back from his job any minute.

Danny's accusing him of something; a re-enactment of that incident in the flat Sylar took him to months ago. Sylar stiffens involuntarily.

"Well?" It's a dare, Danny wants to get a reaction out of Sylar, wants him to feel the pain he's been feeling since their less than amicable separation but what Danny doesn't realise is that Sylar felt it more than he did. Sylar's not so in denial that he won't admit he needs Danny far more than the other way around.

Sylar shakes his head sharply. "I just… wanted to talk."

"You really think this is a good time or place?" Their whispering so as to avoid waking the young girl but there's enough bite to Danny's words to make Sylar question the practicality of all of this.

But practicality has never entered into any of his decisions regarding Danny.

"You're avoiding me."

"Bit difficult now that you're in my hometown." Danny shot back.

"Nevertheless… you're avoiding me."

They both sucked in a breath as Marie stirred. Danny shook his head incredulously at the situation when she rolled onto her back before thankfully remaining asleep. "We can't have this conversation. Not here."

Sylar sighs in exasperation, the most emotion he's let slip in the past few weeks. "Then please, tell me when's convenient for you because we are going to have this conversation."

Danny let his head loll back onto the pillows behind him and he glared upwards. "You bastard…" Yeah, part of him thinks, antagonise the man with superpowers capable of tearing you open with a single thought. He persists anyway. "I'm going to the basketball court tomorrow around lunchtime." There's no way he's setting aside time for Sylar, Sylar's going to squeeze in the one part of his day that he's actually doing something and he's going to have to deal with it. "We can talk there."

Sylar bristles. He knows he's being brushed off but Danny's at least going to let him talk and Sylar's going to find a way to make that work. It's more than he could have hoped for and he disappears out the front door, brushing past a man on the stairs a few flights down who he then hears head into the room he just exited.

The serial killer shrugs; he's always been one to cut it close.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **2:15-2:30**

Sylar knows the Company has found him. Well, he knows someone has found him. He's not sure who they're working for but he knows he's being watched by someone. Since the night before he's felt that pickling on the back of his neck telling him he's being observed. He fucking knows, alright?

But he can't mess this up. Danny gave him another chance and he's not going to mess this up so when lunchtime rolls round he's gone from the shop and he's heading to the basketball court as fast as he can, ignoring the hurried steps echoing his own. He's faster so he knows he'll get there before whoever it is following him- unless they want to start a fight there and then. It would be a stupid thing to do so Sylar's not surprised he makes it to the court without some sort of attack made to his person.

He's barely made it over to Danny, his fingers just curling around Danny's shoulders, before something collides with his back and he's sprawled on the floor, skidding away and fuck! Even as his skin is split on the ground- it'll heal- all he can think is that man is too close to _his_ Danny and Danny is unprotected. It's his job to protect Danny- he can't think since when, but it's been his first priority for a while- and he'll be damned if he doesn't follow through.

Sylar looks up and his chest constricts in what might be panic- he's not afraid, never- but he doesn't know what to do because the one thing he knows how to do to defend himself… he can't do anymore. There was a time only a few weeks ago where he wouldn't have hesitated to kill the man before him but now- and with Danny so close- he can't. He won't. He's tried too hard to become a better man for this piece of filth to screw it up. There are too many other people here as well, Sylar notes. He won't make a scene… he'll try not anyway. He lives in this town now, he's got to at least try to fit in.

"Sylar?" Danny's voice is worried but Sylar can tell he's trying to hide it. If he hadn't been listening- hoping- for it then he would have missed it.

"I've been looking for you for a long time, Sylar." The man is talking, his words are dripping with anger and malice and Sylar just can't quite place how he knows him. The name is on the tip of his tongue but he can't concentrate on it without blocking out some of the present and this man is still too close to Danny. "All those missed opportunities and now I have you!"

Oh _now_ he remembers. Running around after Danny has meant he's not been on top of a lot of important things. "Knox." He spits out the name like one would spit out bile. Suffice to say he's not happy to see this man.

"You refuse to come back to the Company so instead I've been sent to clean you up and make you disappear!" Sylar can see the man's temper flaring. Calm to furious in a heartbeat and all it takes is a flash of fear and the man will crush whoever is in his sights. Sylar's rather unhappy to note that is him at the moment. All attention on the court is on them, the basketball has fallen to the floor and rolled to Knox' feet and he picks it up nonchalantly. "You're not afraid of me… shame."

Sylar doesn't get a chance to say a word, Danny's too quick.

"Why would Sylar be afraid of you?!" Danny scoffs. "You have no idea who you're dealing with, do you?" Sylar doesn't appreciate that Danny's decision to defend him has no put him in danger and he's more afraid Danny's in over his head than he is that Knox is here to kill him. Suddenly Sylar knows his made a fatal mistake and all it takes is a glance at Knox and he knows he screwed everything up royally. _Afraid_, damn, he's _afraid_. Sylar is afraid. Not for himself but he doesn't need to be. He's still afraid on some level.

Knox inhales sharply, sniffing the air like a wild dog. His lips curl predatorily and Sylar can't help but feel his fear snowball. Knox has smelt his fear and knows it's not at his own safety, Sylar knows this by the way he sees Knox' eyes land on Danny who's blankly staring at the floor but he's stood firmly. Sylar wants to feel at least a little relieved Danny still cares enough to defend him and maybe they have a chance but what a time to show it. Danny, if nothing else, has appalling timing.

"Well, well, well. So this is why you've been gone so long, eh, Sylar?" Knox is raking his eyes over Danny's body and Sylar feels sick but then the basketball is thrown with that enhanced strength across the court and the crack as it hits Danny square in the chest lets Sylar's acute hearing know that there are a few cracked ribs there now.

He sees Danny double over with a choked cry of pain. The people around them burst into action, some running away, others running to Danny's aid. There's a man Sylar thinks Danny knows by the way he's hanging onto him, he's trying to see if Danny's okay- he's clearly not- and he hears him gasp 'Jay, save Sylar' before he doubles up on the floor. Sylar's frozen in horror as Knox takes two strides and is at Danny's side. He kicks the man at Danny's side- Jay, he thinks- and the man goes flying. He's unconscious and dragged off by a few others. Sylar sees they are alone now as Knox lifts Danny into the air by his throat. All Sylar can think is 'why the fuck am I not moving?!'

"Thought you'd have found a sturdier toy to play with, Sylar! This one's barely functioning!" Knox' grip tightens and he can see Danny's face start to colour sharply. He can see Danny's fingers scratch at Knox' arm but the grip is unyielding and Sylar's breathing halts abruptly when he hears Danny gasp his name with the little breath he can suck in. "He's blind! Ha! He's got no powers and he's blind! You really know how to pick 'em. It's probably the only way you got him though, eh? He's blind enough not to see how worthless and pathetic you are." He shakes Danny and drops him to the floor where Danny crumples onto his face and stomach, his breathing sounding like he's breathing through a mouthful of cotton. Sylar doesn't know why he's not moving yet, what more damage could he possibly be waiting for?!

"Does he know about Elle?" Shit, shit, shit, shit- "And Maya and all those other people you've manipulated into loving you and then fucked them over? The company has it all on file, you know?" Actually, Sylar didn't know and now all he could think of was breaking into The Company and burning the file and the building down. "Does he know you're going to do that to him?" The mocking laughter is all it takes to get Sylar shifting to stand.

He looks over at Danny and sees he's also on his hands and knees only there's blood over his teeth and dripping down his chin and he whispers one word- "Sylar." Sylar's on his feet before he thinks about it.

Sylar's in Knox' face, staring at the shock and surprise and the _fear_, he can feel it all and he revels in it. His hunger is awake and its begging to be fed as a fist collides with Knox' jaw. He's not sure whether the crack is from his hand or Knox' jaw but he doesn't care as he sees Knox' face snap back as if unharmed and he slams his whole weight into his hand and down on Knox' head that has the man stumbling and falling to the floor. Sylar's on him in a flash, pinning him with a knee to his stomach on which he rests as he beats his fists repeatedly into Knox' face until its just a bloody mess and Sylar can't hear anything for the pounding _tick, tock, tick, tock_ in his ears and the pain in his hands is making him ache all over. Sylar wants to rip Knox' skull open and dissect his power before destroying him utterly.

Danny hears every crack of flesh on flesh, Sylar's laboured breathing and the repeated words of, "Don't. Ever. Touch. Danny." Each word punctuated with a hard slam. Oddly, he feels a warm sensation of protection than a sickening sensation of disgust. He can't hear Knox anymore and he wonders if Sylar's killed him as he feels a heavy weight overtake him and he collapses unconscious.

He wonders if Sylar will ever stop killing.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **2:30-2:48**

Sylar is sat in the front room of Larry's flat on a sofa facing Larry and Marie on the opposite sofa. Marie is frowning at him because she recognises him but Sylar feels no urge to explain himself and Larry is just outright scowling, blaming him for the state his brother is in no doubt. It's a long while before anyone says anything.

"You fixed my watch." Marie blurts.

Sylar nods, taking a sip from the coffee she had made for him. "I did."

"…are you new in town?" She inquires with the sort of annoying curiosity only children have which his mother claims he never lost, much to Sylar's dismay. His mother… Sylar shuts down that thought instantly.

"I moved here a few weeks ago. I only recently got that job though." He shifts in his seat. This feels awkwardly like the boyfriend meeting the family and Sylar's not too comfortable with that at all. He doesn't like to think about what it is he and Danny have and he's certainly not ready to share whatever it is with anyone else.

"How well do you know Danny?" It's the first thing Larry's said since they finished patching Danny up- at Danny's incoherent insistence of not going back to the hospital.

"Pretty well. I knew him since a few months before his parent's died." Oops, _their_ parents. Sylar's not stupid but he acknowledges he's sometimes a little tactless. His great knowledge leaves little room for emotions sometime- rarely for his own let alone those of others. "I'm, er…" Maybe he shouldn't say this… "I'm the reason he was gone after their deaths."

There's outrage on Larry's face and shock on Marie's face. He not really surprised at their reactions but he tenses nonetheless. "_You_ took him?!"

"Sh!" Sylar snaps. "Yes, I took him. I didn't know he had any family besides his parents at the time- you two never came up much or if you did I forgot. I just realised he needed to get away from it."

"And how do you think that looks to the police?!"

Sylar shoots him a sideways glance that makes Marie look down in fright and Larry stiffen as the dark stranger's 'I've done bad things' look came out. "And what makes you think I've ever been concerned with police?"

Larry doesn't get a chance to answer as Danny shuffles through the doorway to the bedroom and Marie jumps out of her seat to engulf him in a gentle hug. He pats her head and kisses her brow, assuring her she's fine. Larry stands as well, looking his brother up and down and trying to assess whether now is appropriate time to yell. It doesn't look like it as he throws an arm around his brother's shoulders and hugs him tightly. "Don't scare me like that, little bro'."

Danny laughs. "I'm sorry, I should have been more considerate when I deliberately got myself beat up by a guy I've never met before. You're right, please forgive me." Larry thumps him lightly and ruffles his hair.

Sylar silently watches the three siblings interact before he senses Danny can feel him watching. Danny's blue eyes land close to where he's sitting, close enough for Sylar to know Danny _means_ to be looking at him. Sylar says nothing and doesn't move but his gaze softens a fraction though he'd never admit it. He's relieved Danny's okay. He'd been waiting for hours now, rudely refusing to leave until Danny woke up.

"Guys… can you give us a minute?" Danny asks softly.

There's a sharp silence until Larry nods to himself and takes Marie's hand firmly. "Come on, we need to do the shopping anyway."

"Thanks, Larry." Danny murmurs as his brother and sister leave.

Sylar watches them go then swings his head back round languidly to watch Danny with a curiously raised brow. "You okay?" He asks after a moment. Danny nods repeatedly, as if to himself, as he sighs and purses his lips. Sylar knows that look. It means Danny's been thinking. Not that he doesn't often its just that face normally means he's been over thinking and the product of which will usually be a very good or a very bad thing for Sylar. Gulping down a mouthful of coffee and feeling it scald his throat Sylar blurts, "I didn't kill him."

Danny breathes out a laugh. "I never said that you did!" He laughed and turned his head shyly. "I was going to say something else."

"And what might that be?" Sylar asks, playing along if only to enjoy the moment. "I can't think of anything else we need to discuss at the moment…"

Danny's face takes a more serious look but he does smile at the teasing. "I'm sorry."

"What for? No, don't answer that." Sylar stands up and moves over to Danny. "Come to dinner with me tonight."

The smaller man jumps as he feels Sylar's hand on his face. "W-what? N-no, we- I mean…!" The thumb caressing his cheek feels very nice… Danny sighs and leans into the touch. "Okay."

Sylar grins and he feels Danny flick him. One day he'll get Danny to explain that being able to hear smiles thing. "I'll pick you up at seven." He wants to kiss Danny but he can't without reawakening that hunger that demands he fuck Danny raw that very instant so he contents himself with a lingering touch and then he's gone.

Danny wonders how Sylar can always convince him to do these things.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **2:48-2:54**

Danny's hands are fidgeting under the table with a napkin. Sylar can hear the cloth twisting in his hands as he wraps it around his finger tightly, then letting it loosen before wrapping it again the other way. Sylar calmly looks at the table, waiting with his head inclined to Danny but not looking. He'd never say he was afraid to look but Sylar knows the moment is as fragile as a glass bubble- if he so much as coughs the wrong way the moment will shatter.

"W-why?" Danny asks. It's more of a gasped sound that Sylar has to concentrate on before he realises it's a question.

There are so many things Danny could be asking but, as always, Sylar knows exactly to what Danny is referring. The problem is he has no answer. Every excuse he once had seems flimsy and hollow even to his ears.

Danny doesn't relent; he's waiting expectantly so Sylar answers honestly.

"I don't know."

They sit reflectively for a while, Danny's gaze threatening to throw them into an argument as Sylar doesn't expand on his statement. Instead, Danny just nods as if he was expecting that answer and dinner passes without a hitch. They talk about small things, insignificant changes in recent events that mean nothing to Sylar but he likes to hear Danny's voice so he urges the conversation on if only to hear that warm voice. Danny's friendly and trusting nature is back as though it never left and Sylar hasn't felt so at ease since he forced this man away.

"I tried… you know?" Sylar says softly as the conversation lulls. Danny's head jerks and Sylar takes that as a sign to continue. "I… I think I sent you away because I couldn't risk being around you. Not with how much I hungered for… for power. I still do. It's a hunger that builds and builds until I have to claim power and let it flow through me…" Sylar shakes as his words stoke the hunger to awakening. "I tried to stop it, I wanted to change. I though if I… if I could silence it, could control it at least, then I could come back to you." His breathing is shaky as the hunger rumbles within him, the _tick, tock, tick, tock_ thrumming in his mind building up and up. "But I stopped killing and the hunger wouldn't stop so I killed so many… so many more than before and it still wouldn't stop!" Public place! You're in a public place! But with the object of his desires sat so close it's all he can do to stop himself flipping the table and attacking.

Danny's looking at him- near enough- in abject shock. Sylar can see fear and it makes his heart sink as his burning arousal lurches in delicious savouring of the power he has over the gentle man before him. This is so, so, wrong! Sylar tried so damn hard to prevent this!

"Why… why won't it stop?" Danny asks softly. The tremor in his voice is so damn appealing and all Sylar wants to do is wring screams from that pale throat until he can't hear anything but that beautiful sound.

Sylar chokes as he strives to contain himself, wary that he's going to be attracting attention soon with the way he's trembling in his seat. "You!" He gasps sharply. He slams a fist on the table, the pain shooting up his hand easing his discomfort though he's aware a bruise will never form. It's still nice to feel pain, though. "You, Danny! That's all it wants now!" He chokes on his breath, gasping like a fish out of water.

Danny is staring and his mouth is moving to form words he can't find and Sylar can feel people staring at him. Jerkily he slams money down on the table and runs from the restaurant before he can't run. He leaves Danny before he knows he wouldn't have been able to. It's suffocating him now and as Sylar slumps down in the nearest alleyway he wonders if maybe he's left it too late to be with Danny and not hurt him. It certainly feels like every time Sylar's possessive grip tightens around Danny, the bruises refuse to fade and their emotional imprint pushes them further apart as they strive to crawl closer.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **2:54-3:08**

"Goodbye, Gabriel. Bright and early tomorrow." Sylar doesn't reply as the door to the shop shuts behind him.

He does, however, jerk to a stop when he hears a family scrap of a stick on the pavement. He sees Danny smiling benignly at him, stood still but idly scraping the tip of his stick against the cement as he waits. Danny tilts his head as presumably Sylar's smell washes over him and then the smile broadens.

Sylar brings his hands to his mouth, cupping it in horror as the hunger overtakes him like it did before only much faster. He staggers back and shakes his head in horror. Speech is beyond him at this point and he can't even warn Danny to leave him.

Sylar's only ever felt this helpless to his power once before-

_Watching her body burn Sylar wonders why he couldn't stop that hunger from needing to know her in every way from her body to her mind to her power and never stopping. Sylar wonders if he'll ever be able to be with someone without ripping open their head to see them entirely laid out before him._

He can remember the smoke of Elle's burning body washing over him as his eyes watered but never letting the tears fall.

The reminder of what he could possibly do to Danny if he doesn't control this makes him want to be sick but the cold chill it sends through him is enough to make him contain the hunger a little, enough for him to breathe.

Danny steps forward and Sylar can feel his restraint waver but it holds. "Will you come with me somewhere?" Sylar inclines his head. He can never deny Danny anything.

Even at the cost of his life.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **3:08-3:25**

Sylar turns the radio off as Danny begins to sing to it. Danny squawks in protest but Sylar ignores him as they drive. Danny's giving him directions and Sylar doesn't even want to think how bizarre it is that the blind man is telling him where to go. Instead he does as requested with little thought on where he is beyond confirming landmarks with Danny.

"Look, if you're not going to talk to me at least let me have the radio on!" The whining tone of a petulant child, Sylar ignores it. Instead tapping his fingers aimlessly on the steering wheel as he strives to hold onto what depraved shreds of control he has left at the moment.

Danny giggles. Sylar glances over with a frown. "What?"

"Nothing…" He laughs again. "I was just thinking how cool it is that you want me so much." There's a shy blush to his cheeks but his words are confident and alluring. Sylar just rolls his eyes and concentrates on the road as though he'd never driven before in his life and it required all of his attention.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **3:25-3:32**

"Possibly the stupidest idea you've ever had." Sylar says turning to look at the man sat with his back against the headboard just to the side of him on the bed. There's as much space as can be given between them but it's not enough and Sylar can feel his hunger ripping holes in his control.

He should have paid more attention to where Danny was leading him.

They are back at the hotel that Sylar had previously followed Danny to when Danny had returned home before. They're in the same room as well. The memories dancing before his eyes are enough to make Sylar want to just let go and take what Danny keeps teasing before his reach but Sylar knows Danny cannot possibly be aware of what he is offering.

Danny has his head ducked down and is throwing a ball from hand to hand, a sign he's settling in for a long wait. It makes Sylar bristle as he's now the one being ignored. His fists clench in the sheets and he just stares up at the ceiling.

"You know what I can do, Danny. You know I'm capable of murder to a horrific degree. I am not in control of my power and may never be fully. I've tried to explain to you how dangerous it is and yet you do this- bring me here and leave me with no illusions as to what you want but for god's sake, Danny… do you know what you asking for?!"

Danny turns his head and looks vaguely towards him with perfect seriousness. "I'm asking for the man I love to make love to me."

Sylar snorts and tries to ignore the way he has to dig his hands tighter into the sheets to stop his hunger from making him drag Danny towards him. "I don't have enough control for that." He whispers.

Danny puts the ball down on the bedside table and smiles softly. "Then that can wait. It was you who came to me and now I want you to touch me and kiss me and stop running away when you just came back…" Danny reaches out gingerly, his fingers passing through air as he reaches for Sylar. "Please…" He seems not to be aware of what he's saying, the words passing his lips so softly but they get across his intent and it makes the older man shudder.

Sylar's hand reaches out automatically but he forces it to still, millimetres from Danny's. "If I let go… even if I hurt you to the point of screaming and breaking you, I won't be able to stop. Once I let go there will be no stopping me."

The killer watches Danny shudder and he can't tell whether its fear or arousal or both, he likes to hope its fear and that Danny isn't so changed by him to like the possibility of extreme pain. "I know… but I'm tired of letting every little thing keep you away from me. Even if it hurts… I do want you."

"You're a fool." Sylar shakes his head but lets his hand lace with Danny's and the shock of his touch makes Sylar's eyes close. Danny sighs happily but doesn't see that when Sylar's eyes open again they are dark with pupils blown wide and harsh in feeling. Sylar is weak within himself and the hunger drives him completely.

Releasing Danny's hand Sylar grips his arm harshly, throwing him onto his back and underneath him without ceremony. Danny cries out in shock, the sudden sensation of a different position jarring his remaining senses as he scrabbles for balance before being pushed to lie down flat. There's something in the firm but urgent way Sylar is touching him that makes Danny fairly certain Sylar isn't going to bother with foreplay at that moment. He wants to back out now, he's scared and shaking but he asked for this. And Sylar had already said once it started there was no undoing it. Besides, he can handle this. He can. He tries to pretend he can, at any rate, even as he shakes beneath the taller man.

His jeans are ripped from Danny's legs without a word being uttered; only Danny's cry of alarm and discomfort as his legs are locked around Sylar's waist for him. His t-shirt disappears then in a flash of tearing cloth and a jerk of motion and there's no warning as Sylar's teeth sink into his collar bone.

This time he hisses in pain, pressing further into the bed to get away but a strong hand on his chest has him pinned and all he can do is squirm- much to Sylar's delight. The bites don't stop at one- another is delivered to his neck, a third to his nipple and a fourth to his side. It's painful and draws blood but Danny's almost embarrassed at the way he's achingly hard at all this rough treatment. Danny's never liked being manhandled and without being able to see it tends to happen a lot but Sylar's handling him with a firmness that in the current situation Danny can't help but love.

When Sylar suddenly flips him over Danny waits with bated breath as Sylar's fingers explore lower. Danny's touched Sylar even has the presence of mind to remember preparation but he just waits to see the man's reaction as one finger touches his opening. He hears a snarl and a growl and suddenly he can feel the anger rolling off Sylar and it takes Danny a moment to realise what the older man has assumed. "No!" Danny cries to still him but Sylar's teeth sink firmly into his neck, drawing more blood and making Danny cry out and his eyes well with the unforgiving pain. "S-Sylar! N-no! N-not w-what y-you t-think!" He's shaking as he realises just how much he's at this man's mercy. "I did that… me, I did it." He swallows jerkily and then breathes out softly, "For you."

Sylar stills slowly and his teeth relinquish his neck, Danny breathes a sigh of relief. The finger is back at his entrance and it slips in easily, the lube and preparation Danny had done before he met Sylar after work making this painless. Danny wasn't so stupid not to realise that there was reason Sylar wouldn't touch him so he figured at least taking some precaution on his part would be sensible.

And it was as Sylar only stretches him with two fingers- hardly enough- before Danny can feel Sylar pulling him onto his side, lifting his leg up and pulling it to a pleasing angle before thrusting in. Danny cried out, a sharp keen of pain as his passage was stretched to fullness in an instant. His head lolls against the covers and Sylar holds him just as he likes, thrusting in sharply again and again and the lube Danny had used wasn't nearly enough for this sort of treatment but Danny is just grateful he had the foresight to do at least that.

The thrusts are deep and hard and make Danny's eyes roll as the strikes to his prostate have him seeing stars and the rough friction against his passage makes him want to wriggle free in pain. The lines between the two, pleasure and pain, are blurring and making Danny gasp and writhe without words and Sylar's more than pleased to have the man pliant beneath him. From the position they are in all Danny can do is clutch at the bed sheets and touch himself, Sylar controls the pace and the angle and it shouldn't feel so good being at the other man's mercy but it is and Danny's wanted this since Sylar left him- he's not sure he's going to last. It feels so good to be with Sylar again, Danny wants to pretend everything's fixed now and he doesn't have to worry about anything because Sylar is with him again and nothing else matters.

The mouth at his neck is kissing and licking, soothing the bites from before and Danny's eyes are rolling as Sylar's pace picks up sharply. It's fast and hard and Danny can feel himself pushed past his breaking point as he comes harder than he can remember ever having done before but when his eyes open the position has changed and Sylar's as hard as a rock within him still. He's sitting on Sylar's' lap, the man's strong hands firmly clenched around his hips, and as he clenches around Sylar's length he realises the man hasn't come yet. He's waiting for Danny to calm down to continue.

Danny clenches again, silently wondering if teasing the man in this state is liable to get him killed, when Sylar's eyes flash hungrily- a warning Danny misses- and that unseen force Danny has yet to get used to is pushing him up with Sylar's hands and slamming him down. He isn't required to move at all as Sylar uses his powers to make Danny ride him hard and fast and Danny whimpers in pain as his sensitive body post-orgasm is protesting such fast motions and he knows that the wetness in his rear is fast becoming blood but Sylar can't stop and Danny won't even try to plead with him but he scrunches up his face and cries softly as the pain increases with each thrust and it feels like Sylar really is breaking him in two.

The position changes again as Sylar topples them over so he is once again on top and without even slipping from within Danny, the pace begins again. Danny's screaming now, the pleasure a dim glow between the sharp thrusts that have Danny sobbing in pain. _It's Sylar, he isn't doing this on purpose, this is your own fault, you wanted this, you asked for this,_ Danny's mind is a buzz of thoughts he can't stop. And when he screams to the ceiling at the deepest thrust yet he feels Sylar release within and he whimpers as the essence stings at his torn and sore passage.

Danny's a sweaty, tangled mess of blood, semen and tears, shaking and trembling in Sylar's hold as the older man slips free and curls around what is his. Exhaustion takes Danny quicker than he realised it would and the pain is a distant memory in sleep.

~o~S~o~D~o~** 3:32-3:37**

Sylar wakes with a smile. He feels like a giant weight has been lifted from him and he isn't restraining something bigger within himself as he had been for months. He's all warm, fuzzy in the sunlight peering through the curtains, wrapping himself tighter around Danny as he fights off the waking world a little longer.

Danny…

Danny!

Shit!

It all comes back in a flash and he jerks back in alarm, his eyes widening further as he takes in the stained sheets and the blood painting his crotch and the white sheets here and there. He clasps a hand over his mouth in disgust at himself before biting the bullet and looking at Danny. He can see tear tracks staining the man's face and as he peels back the cover there's more blood. Not enough for Sylar to think he's killed him- the steady rise and fall of Danny's chest chased away that fear- but enough to know he hurt him. Badly.

There's nothing he can say or do that would possibly make this right so he scribbles a note onto the bedside table and flees the room.

He's been doing that a lot since becoming Gabriel again. Gabriel has a conscience Sylar lacked but can't seem to escape the horrors Sylar made no matter how fast he runs or how hard.

He's up on the roof as it begins to rain. Enough for him to be soaked and be reminded of the last time he was atop the hotel roof and he wants to scream out his anger and frustration to the sky- demanding why he can be a God but he can't fix the one thing he needs in the world that will keep him human.

Sylar wonders when he ever wanted to be human but now he can't think of ever not being human.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **3:37-3:54**

The door to the shop chimes open and Sylar doesn't look up from the workbench he's at in the backroom. He is still visible from the front room but he makes no effort to acknowledge the person and dismisses them with, "We're closed."

There are no footsteps to say they exited or entered further so Sylar sighs and begins to remove his glasses. "I said, sorry we're closed. Please come back tomorrow."

"That's a shame."

Sylar jumps and stares up in surprise. He rises smoothly to his feet, despite his shock, and his stare doesn't lessen. "D-Danny?!"

Danny is standing awkwardly in the middle of the shop floor, his stance clearly showing he has a severe limp but the corner of his mouth is turned up in a slight smile and he's there, before Sylar and all Sylar can do is stare. He doesn't even dare to hope.

Danny slides a piece of paper across the counter and Sylar recognises it as the note he left in the hotel room. It simply reads, _I'm sorry_, and Sylar flinches but Danny just shakes his head in a disapproving manner. "I'm sorry." Sylar says automatically. He means everything and only something all it once and Danny seems to understand as he nods slowly.

"I think we've had enough of 'sorry' for a while, though." Danny murmurs with a smile.

Sylar just nods and moves around the counter to stand before Danny. He'll never admit he was nervous but when Danny wrapped his arms around his neck Sylar was relieved and elated and just surrounded by all he needed.

"I tried." Sylar whispered.

"I know." Danny whispers back.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **THE END**

Akaiba  
xxxxxxx


	3. A Blind Man's Goodbye

T**itle:** Blind Goodbyes  
**Author: **Akaiba  
**Rating:** PG-13 for death, blood and general Sylar-mayhem  
**Disclaimer:** Were any of the characters Zachary Quinto and Chris Pine portray mine (or indeed the actors themselves) I would not have time to post fanfiction. ;)  
**Characters/Pairings:** Sylar(Heroes)/Danny(Blind Dating)  
**Summary:** AU (obviously) Things can't go well for this unlikely couple- Sylar's past isn't ready to let go just yet and is it Danny who will pay the heaviest price for his lover's mistakes?

It is advised, however, that you read this fic in tandem with Lorlo7's vid (MINUS THE SPACES) http:// www . youtube . com / watch?v=VD8joGM9ksM

~o~S~o~D~o~

Danny yawns sleepily but drags himself out of bed, stretching and rolling his shoulders until he hears a satisfying crack. Sylar winces at the noise but does not open his eyes or move from the warm space he occupies on the bed. Since Sylar had moved in with Danny and his siblings, at Danny's insistence, they had been forced to find a bigger apartment lest his sister see things she shouldn't and Danny is grateful for it. He couldn't imagine waking up without Sylar's fingers tracing his face like a map.

"'M gonna go get some toaster pastries from the shop…" Danny informs his sleepy bed partner as he begins to struggle with a pair of jeans his fuzzy head is certain had magically sprouted another leg for all the effort it took to try and get them on.

"They're bad for your health." Sylar informs him in a teasing voice.

"So is sleeping with a potentially radioactive man." Danny shot back.

Sylar laughs. "That's not all I can do." Rolling out of bed he begins pulling on clothes. "You stay here, I'll go get them."

Danny beams at him. "You're a godsend, I swear."

Sylar tugs his shirt down and buttons his jeans. "I assure you my motives are entirely ulterior- you still have a book you need to finish reading for your law class tomorrow. So get started while I go get your sickeningly unhealthy breakfast."

The smaller man sticks out his tongue even as Sylar pats his head. "Love you." He said as the taller turns to leave.

"I know- now get reading!"

Danny cackles and flops back onto the bed.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **0:00-0:09**

Danny had only avoided opening the book for four minutes before he decided incurring Sylar's wrath was not worth it at that point in time. Sometime it was, but when the man was going out and buying him breakfast it certainly wasn't fair. He settled against the headboard and began reading, his fingers tracing over the raised dots quickly as his sightless eyes stared at nothing, his mind processing quickly what he could read before him.

He hears a creak from the hallway and he looks up. Sliding the book from his lap he grins and makes his way to the door, his hands outstretched to feel his way. Larry's already at work and Marie at school so that leaves-

"Sylar? That was quick are you-" He choked on his words as something connects hard with the back of his head. His arm shoots out and he swipes the table near him clear of its contents: papers scattering, a vase and a glass falling to the ground and shattering.

He falls forward to the floor on his hands and knees before the world goes fuzzy and all is silent.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **0:09-015**

"What do you want done with him?" The doctor at his shoulder chirps.

Noah looks over the limp form on the gurney. "Keep him sedated, I'm calling in a friend and I don't want him awake before they get here." Danny's face is blank and the drip in his arm prevents him waking. "He's important. I just don't know to what extent yet."

The doctor isn't listening further than the medical orders and begins wheeling Danny away and to the cell Noah selected until further notice. The doctor tries to not think on when his job focus changed from mutant-evolved people to ordinary people. It's probably got something to do with an evolved person anyway.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **0:15-0:19**

When Sylar gets home he sees someone in their living room, the door standing wide open and immediately he panics and wants to rip them apart. Sylar forces himself to calm down; no ones going to hurt Danny, Danny isn't totally helpless. Though Sylar's not sure why Danny isn't there with the guest.

"Can I help you?" Sylar's voice is dark and dangerous, pouring as much threat into it as he can. He wants this intruder gone so he can cook Danny breakfast and curl back up into bed for the day.

The intruder turns and he sees its Mohinder. Jerking back he goes on the defensive, letting the carrier bag of shopping fall from his grasp as his eyes narrow. He's surprised when Mohinder lifts his hands in a show of surrender, though his face shows clearly he's feeling less than friendly.

"I'm sorry…" Mohinder murmurs like its worse than slitting his own throat to apologise to the killer. "I couldn't stop them." There's regret in that voice and Sylar's heart pounds.

Its then that Sylar notices that broken glass and scattered papers. His head jerks frantically from left to right. "Danny?" He's panicking now as he bolts into their bedroom and all he finds is one of Danny's law texts spread open on the bed.

He was only gone for fifteen fucking minutes… there's a stirring in Sylar's chest and he knows that that isn't good but right now he could care less.

He doesn't feel Mohinder stick him with a needle but he does feel his knees hit the floor and the rest is silence.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **0:19- 0:50**

Danny's eyes are covered by something, glasses or bandages, his hands feel too wooden to remove them so he doesn't bother. He's moving frantically now though his head feels like its splitting open. He has no idea where he is but he has to escape, he's sure he hears whispered voices but no one or nothing tries to stop him so he staggers until he finds his way outside and into the world.

Its then that he realises he has something he's never had before- memories. Visual ones. There are colours, bright and he can't tell one from the other- names are useless without something to put them too but they're breathtaking and Danny's reeling.

It's shocking and disturbing but all Danny wants is to go home to Sylar-

_A lady with blonde hair swings the parking meter and it connects sharply with the taller man's stomach and he flies back, the strength with which she fights is inhuman and the other man cannot counter her quick enough._

Danny gasps like he's drowning, which he sort of is beneath the flood of visual sensations he's never had to deal with before. It feels like a herd of elephants stampeding across his brain and he wants to scream in pain. He wants Sylar-

_The lither man grips the taller man who's on his knees and hurls his fist hard until it connects with the darker man's chin, cracking loudly and the knelt man jerks backwards sharply._

Danny has no idea where he's going but he's pretty sure he's staggered into traffic with the way he can hear them honking their horns and whizzing past him but his head is spinning and he's so damn sure he knows the darker man-

_His face is slammed repeatedly into the floor and the wall, any available hard surface that will hurt the dark haired man. Anything to stop him. The fear is swallowing but the man in glasses gripping the younger is determined to end him. _

Danny's breath feels permanently knocked from his chest and it's all he can do to stand upright as he feels the traffic around him reach a fever pitch of noise but his head is aching already. He wants to go home, he's afraid and hurt and these memories he knows are not his are making him more scared and disorientated. They feel connected somehow; the memories flood him when he thinks of-

_The dark haired man throws back his head and screams, face contorted in agony and screaming for all he can but the pain and the attacks won't stop._

No! Danny jerks his head. It can't be! He throws his hands up and inches his way to the other side of the street as his mind whirs desperately. He can see him! He knows what he looks like! He can see Sylar-

_Sylar's back hunches in shock and pain as the blade pierces his chest, skewering him and his mouth opens in a silent scream. He just hovers there, his feet barely supporting him as realisation hits him and blood begins to run down the blade, splattering the floor and soaking his clothes. _

Danny jerks and falls to the road clutching his head. The cars are so close to him now he can feel the slipstream tugging at his clothes. He wavers on his knees as he tugs at his head, desperate to make the images stop. Sylar's not dead! He's not! He was going out for breakfast only minutes ago! Right…? Danny has no idea what the time is, he could have been out for a few seconds or almost a day. Maybe a few days. He's so out of it he can't think straight but the fear in his gut is telling him something is very, very wrong. Sylar is-

_Falling to the ground, the blade pulled free of his chest as he staggers forward a step and the shorter Asian man steps round him, a face of determination but self-loathing as he watches._

Danny screams and rocks on his knees in pain, it's like he can feel the pain Sylar feels and it's going to break him. He can't take the pain or the images or any of it!

_Sylar slumps boneless and lands on his side on the floor, his eyes open and shocked and horrified and his blood is leaking out onto the floor, painting it red. He's slipping and slipping away, lacking the energy to even twitch a finger. _

Danny's hands are clamped over his ears, screaming over and over again, "No, no, no, no!" it's not true, it's a lie, it's all a lie! There's no way!

He's so tired, so very tired. He can't fight- doesn't want to. He just screams over and over again until he slips back into unconsciousness, the pain dragging him under like a drug and he's sprawled in the middle of the road wishing he were dead. As his mind begins to dwindle he can hear a car horn screech and the smell of burning rubber is closer than is safe.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **0:50-0:55**

Sylar's back in his old cell. Really, it's insulting. Couldn't they have upgraded him to a slightly more flattering one? A one for the seriously, _seriously_ dangerous criminals. Level 5 just isn't as flattering as it once was.

He's not entirely sure but he got pretty good at gauging the passage of time during his last few stays in the complex and he thinks it's been two days since he was captured. The hunger in his chest is overwhelming with frustration and anxiety. He wants answers and he wants them now. His fingers are just itching for someone to refuse him- he hasn't killed in such a long time…

The lights flicker on and he looks up through the glass to see a slim woman with cropped hair looking down at him in disgust. She pulls out a gun and Sylar grins. He can't help it, this is just too easy! He throws his arm back and up, jerking her through the sheet glass with a bone breaking force, his hand around her pale throat as soon as his twitching fingers can grab it, holding her in place as the blood on her temple slicks his hand.

"Where is Danny?" He asks, dark voice honeyed with fake charm that makes her shudder in fear but she won't back down.

"Go to hell."

He laughs as she raises the gun, his telekinesis forcing the barrel to her own temple and he can see the fear and panic rolling through her eyes as she looks from the gun to Sylar, defiant to the end as she doesn't beg- only screams. Sylar gasps as the trigger is pulled, the rush of pleasure his control over everything gives him is making him tingle as her blood splatters the broken window like a beautiful red mosaic. But is a hollow pleasure that leaves him hungrier than before and he grinds his teeth in frustration. He wants Danny.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **0:55-1:01**

He's changed out of his cell-issue tee and trousers into a dark shirt and jeans but he's not being as stealthy as he should be in his angered state and he's not sure why he's surprised when he's thrown against the wall, two fists in his shirt and pinning him firmly. His head is ringing before he can retaliate and he sees Alejandro's face, stunning him further. He thinks maybe Mohinder managed to revive him as a favour to Maya, bring the brother back and maybe the sister will be more willing to stay with the unhelpful, self-absorbed-

"What do you think you are doing, Gabriel?!" Alejandro demands. Sylar thinks if he'd been given a chance to see the man who had murdered him again he wouldn't ask questions, he'd kill. But Sylar's never had the problem of maybe not surviving so he wouldn't know. Anger comes naturally; survival is just something he can't avoid. In any given situation he can find the way out and live- Claire's regenerative powers only being a catalyst to that. Alejandro shakes him roughly and he realises he hasn't answered.

But Sylar's going to be the one asking questions here and babysitting a hot headed Dominican with sister issues is not going to help him get answers.

If Danny's lying in a cell somewhere or he's been hurt or anything has been done to him so that Sylar won't see that smiling face every morning of every day then Sylar's going to go so supernova he'll destroy more than New York. He'll destroy the world and let everyone know not to touch what is his.

"I think you're in my way." Sylar hisses icily.

Alejandro's eyes narrow and he goes to strike out but Sylar catches a leg behind one of the other man's, throwing his weight forwards and pinning him to the floor. He struggles, clawing at Sylar's arm desperately but Sylar just smiles at him, his eyes wide but pupils narrowed to specks and his teeth barred more like a snarl than a smile. Raising his free hand Sylar closed his fist except for his index finger, extended to point at Alejandro's neck.

The blood that coats Sylar's arms and hands and face is warm and calming. Sylar feels he can think more clearly once Alejandro's skull is removed once and for all this time. He's not leaving any pieces for Mohinder to reassemble.

When the alarms have been blaring for what feels like ages, Peter decides to investigate and he can feel his stomach lurch when he sees the mess in Sylar's now empty cell. Running to get away from the gore and blood he staggers down a corridor to head to the cargo lift and to go back to the upper levels when he sees there's more carnage. The corpse is barely recognisable though Peter can just about make out Alejandro's bloodied face but it's the scrawled writing on the wall that makes him jerk back in alarm.

GIVE ME DANNY

~o~S~o~D~o~ **1:01-1:08**

Sylar is out in daylight again, his body splattered with blood and he keeps to the alleys and shadows to avoid detection but he knows time is of the essence. Balancing stealth with speed is proving trying for Sylar's patience and he can think of few people he can strangle answers out of but one name comes to mind immediately.

Running to what used to be Isaac Mendez' loft and was converted into Mohinder's laboratory Sylar bursts through the door in hopes of cornering the Indian geneticist. Mohinder's close to the head of the company- Bob- so he should know where things are going and why. If he doesn't… well, he always thought Mohinder would make a pretty corpse. The man is attractive but his snarky mouth is a sharp turn-off. Plus, Sylar sort of has yet to pay him back for drugging him _AGAIN_ and leaving him with the company.

But the lab is gone. There's not a single test tube at all. It's been converted back into a loft and there's a new painter there. His scraggly hair, paint covered arms and slob-like appearance more than confirm his occupation if not for the countless canvas's that surround the space.

Sylar's not happy.

"Who are you? What are you doing in my home?! Get out!" He gestures wildly for Sylar to leave but the darker haired man flicks his fingers like one would flick an insect and the new artist is on the floor.

He can hear the man struggling and demanding answers. In a flash of brilliance- because Sylar's always been so fond of patterns and order- he thinks that killing the painter like he killed the other painter, Isaac, would be sort of poetic. In another flick of a wrist there's a paintbrush spearing through the man's forearm.

The screams make Sylar jerk and reign in his rampant hunger sharply. This isn't helping him save Danny, its wasting precious time he needs to be using to search. He tightens control of his hunger- what little control he has- and manages to stagger away from the loft.

At this point Sylar begins to realise he can save himself and no one else. To save Danny he's going to need help.

But none of the other evolved humans particularly favour him- and with good reason he guesses, but now he needs help or he's going to end up becoming that unstoppable monster again. He already has almost but if they get to Danny in time he can stop it- Danny can stop him. That time travelling kid would be sort of useful right about now. But Hiro's too self-righteous to help the bad guy… especially when Sylar's almost killed his friend Ando a few times as well…

~o~S~o~D~o~ **1:08-1:13**

He's not sure what brought him to this house. He's just looking up at it from behind the gate and turning the idea over in his mind but he really doesn't have time for hesitations. Sylar doesn't have the resources to tear the company apart by himself so here he is stood looking up at the impressive building that borders on being obnoxious in its grand show but Sylar wonders how he could have expected less from the Petrelli family.

That smile, so soft and sweet and naïve… Sylar's stomach twists in horrific ways when he thinks if he doesn't play this correctly he'll never see that smile again. No one has ever smiled at him like that, not when they've known what and who he is. Danny knows and just nods, smiling and accepting so long as Sylar promises he won't leave him. Sylar understands that feeling. Feeling alone and abandoned and completely surrounded by people all at the same time. All it takes is someone to reach out their hand and you can stop drowning in things so much bigger than yourself… Sylar knows Danny had that hand given and snatched away though Danny won't ever tell him who by- they both know the first thing Sylar would do is kill whoever it is.

"Sylar?" Sylar's head jerks as he's snapped from his reverie. He looks to his side on the street where Peter is stood not too far away, his gaze suspicious but he hadn't attacked and he wasn't stood defensively so Sylar didn't move either.

"Peter…" He took a deep breath. This was almost painful but he grits his teeth through it. "I… I need your help."

Peter looks him over for a moment and Sylar sighs, rolling his eyes, and extends his hand to which Peter then studies carefully.

"I won't bite…" Sylar leers, his impatience grating his loose hold on his temper.

The youngest Petrelli does not look impressed with this statement but he does slowly reach out for Sylar's hand, gripping the serial killer's wrist and cocking his head as though listening. Once satisfied Peter released his hold.

"You know… I could have felt your intentions from just being near you." Peter points out.

"I know. I don't have time for your sponge-y powers to slowly soak up though." Sylar fires back with a condescending smirk. Peter doesn't rise to it but does roll his eyes.

"And what reason do I have for helping you?"

Sylar sighs. "I haven't killed anyone in a long while, Peter."

"Not since today."

"Today I was given a way out."

"I noticed." Peter shook his head at Sylar's grin. "So… who's Danny?"

"Danny's my cure. He can help me control my hunger." Sylar says succinctly. He can feel Peter's searching, prying gaze on him and Sylar glares at him, just daring him to say anything. Peter doesn't but he nods almost _understandingly_ and Sylar had forgotten how much he hated Empaths.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **1:13-1:21**

Danny's head is pounding like a drum and his eyelids flicker open needlessly. He can hear machines around him, bleeping and whirring away. There are wires attached to him and an alarm is bleeping until he hears someone turn it off, voices conversing over him and then he feels a hand on his shoulder.

"How are you feeling, Danny?"

_Like crap_, he wants to reply but his mouth is dry and feels full of cotton wool. His mouth opens and closes uselessly as he grasps for words he knows, questions he needs to ask… nothing comes to mind to make his mouth function.

"Lift him up." Hands immediately seize his arms and he's propped upright, crying out as his skin seems to burn like fire. "It's okay. Yes, that's right. Here." A cool glass is pressed against his lips and he drinks obediently.

The glass is removed once it's drained and Danny thinks he can remember something other than his name now.

"You gave us quite a scare there, Danny."

"W-where am I-I?" He sounds like shit, which is funny because that's exactly what he feels like. He's forgetting something important but he's not sure what yet.

"You're safe." That's a cryptic answer if he's ever heard one. It reminds him of something- some_one_, but he can't place who… mysterious, stubborn, secretive…

"What h-happened t-to m-me?"

The doctor- he thinks he's a doctor; he sounds like one- sighs in mock exasperation. "You ran out into traffic, that's what." He can hear paper shuffling. "What did you think was going to happen, Danny? You were hit, straight on. Luckily not enough to kill you outright but we were struggling to keep you with us. It seems like as we were repairing you, you yourself had given up."

Given up? Why would he-

_A flash of a long blade, straight through Sylar's chest, a scream, blood, blood, blood, everywhere. Danny screams but it's not a scream from his lips but from Sylar's._

Danny jerks, shaking violently as the doctor rushes to his side and he can hear others moving around him. "Noah, pin him down." The ordered man does so but Danny doesn't recognise the voice that spoke, it wasn't the doctor. Just how many people are with him?! This panics him further when a third pair of hands go to hold him, the doctor's releasing him to inject him with a mild sedative.

"Who are you people?! Where am I?! Sylar! I want to go home! SYLAR!" Danny's hurt, vulnerable and surrounded. He has no idea where is or where home is from here and no idea where Sylar is or whether Sylar can save him.

"Danny, please calm down." Danny shuts up but his breathing is heavy and his fairly sure he's torn the stitches he can feel pulling at his chest. "It'll do you no good to injure yourself. My name is Bob, I run the company here where you are." Danny just stares in the vague direction of the man's voice, his fists gripping the sheets fiercely. His heart is racing a mile a minute trying to process an escape from this horrible, horrible situation.

"I'm Noah. I found you-… in the street. Brought you back here where you would be safe." The staggered halt doesn't escape Danny's notice.

Danny inhales the air near Noah and his eyes widen. "You…" He recoils back into the bed in horror. "You! It was you! You were in the house! You kidnapped me!" Danny begins to struggle off the bed when all three men rush to pin him to the bed. "Let me go! Let me go!"

Noah snarled in his face. "Sylar is a very bad man who's done unspeakable things- things to my daughter! He cut open her skull!"

He wouldn't let that stop him, Danny knows these things- knows details. Sylar had been very firm about Danny knowing just what type of person he'd gotten himself involved with. "He's a changed man! I helped him- he's trying!"

"He's tried before and it always ended the same way- he cannot control himself!"

"ENOUGH!" The doctor roared. Silence fell. A few calming breath later and the doctor spoke again. "This isn't helping anyone. Danny's condition is unstable and you're aggravating it, Noah." Danny let his body flop back against the pillows and the six hands released him. "Danny, are you in any pain?"

_Yes._ "I want to sit up." It was bad enough he couldn't see but that they were forcing him to lie down was making him feel even more vulnerable. Oh god, what had these people done to him- done to Sylar?! The images- memories?- weren't drowning him anymore, he could sort through them slowly but he had no timeline or anything. He was so confused.

"I don't think-"

"Please."

A long sigh. "Very well."

Danny is compliant and unspoken as the three men manoeuvre Danny into a chair. He shrugs off their hands the second he's settled and doesn't say a word. He wouldn't know what to _start_ with.

The doctor does it for him. "Um, Danny I'm Mohinder. I'm a professor of genetics and while I did not spend hours in surgery patching you up I am well aware you should be resting right now."

"I can't." Danny says shortly. "What have you done to me?" He asks after a long pause. He has to know and he knows that it was them that did it. Who else could it have been?

There's a long silence and then Noah speaks. "I asked a friend of mine to put those memories into your head."

"What, why?! I am blind, why give me all those horrible images when they are all I can remember seeing of the world now?" Danny can't believe how messed up and sick that sounds. "You gave a blind guy… memories of watching his significant other be beaten, stabbed and hurt?!" Danny wants to cry but that would be letting them win so he squares his jaw. He's not totally weak. He can hold his own, at least enough not to breakdown.

Noah's knelt at his side now. "Sylar is a bad person; he has done so much evil I can never forgive him- not for what he did to my daughter."

Danny stares wide-eyed. "W-what have you done…?" That is not a good way to start this conversation, Danny thinks. It can't end well for him or for Sylar. This man is scary and Danny would give anything to be away from this place and at Sylar's side.

"Those memories we gave you are of every time we tried to stop Sylar, every time we found him after killing countless people for his own gain or amusement. When I came to find him I knocked you out to stop you from being hurt… then I killed Sylar." Noah is silent and waits but Danny doesn't move or make a sound. "You don't believe me do you?" Danny's silence is confirmation enough. The man can regenerate; Sylar explained the only way to kill him would be to sever his head. Which is disturbing and comforting in equal parts.

Noah rises and the door to the room opens and a fourth person enters, startling Mohinder into speaking. "No! I've told you already, his condition is too unstable, his injuries barely begun healing!"

"If he won't take my word for it then I will get my friend here to show him."

"I'm warning you, Noah." Bob spoke suddenly. "Do not break him."

Noah says nothing but Danny feels a cool hand close over his eyes and then it's as though a red hot poker has been shoved into his already bruised mind.

"Danny?" Mohinder's voice asked worriedly.

Danny gasps and cries out, making the doctor jump back in alarm as the other three men watch the blind man expectantly.

_Sylar's struggling for breath when Noah drags him back upright, seizing his hair in one hand and pinning him as the killer struggles for freedom. His head is bent back, throat bared and Sylar knows what's coming. His throat bared naked and vulnerable, a flash of a knife and then there's blood running down his neck, staining his shirt. Danny's afraid, is that enough damage to kill him? Noah lets the man fall with disgust, stepping around his struggling form to watch as Sylar claws helplessly at the floor. The anger and fear rolling off Noah is rushing over him and Danny can feel how he feels, feel why he hates Sylar so much. _

Danny reaches out as if submersed in the memory, reaching fruitlessly for Sylar. "Sylar…" He gasps through parted lips, his chest heaving.

_Sylar's eyes are open, staring at nothing and Danny finally knows what that stare his mother had fixed him with in death looks like and it's no less terrifying as Sylar's empty eyes remain fixedly open. There's blood pooling around him and Danny wants to scream. He's pretty sure he does as hands descend on him, pulling him back to reality but all Danny can see is the beautiful man lying in his own blood._

He doesn't listen or communicate as the men lever him back into the bed. Mohinder attempts to engage him but he's as lifeless as a doll, lying on the bed barely alive but for his rising and falling chest. Danny doesn't move as Mohinder leaves the room, flicking the lights off needlessly- it's not like Danny can see the bright lights- but that feeling of total loneliness swallows him instantly.

Danny hasn't felt his grief stricken since he stumbled home to find his parents a bloody mess on the kitchen floor. Only this is _worse_. Sylar was his lover, his friend- his protector. When Danny was scared or needed someone Sylar was that person. Sylar needed him as much as Danny needed Sylar. He filled the void created by having lost so many important people. That now empty feeling eating away at his chest is growing larger by the second and once it's consumed him Danny doesn't think he'll be able to function. He pats his arm curiously, where he can feel a niggling pain that feels so far away in his numbed state.

Sure enough there's the large press of an IV drip in his arm. Danny rips it free, the rush of pain making him blink- well, at least he can still feel something.

Holding the long needle in his fingers he wonders what a poetic end it would be if he were to die with his throat cut open like Sylar did. Sylar's blood looked so pretty on that floor, painting him the bloody angel everyone knows he is. _Gabriel_, the most beautiful angel. Danny wonders why it is that the one chance he's been given to see his lover completely… he sees him die.

Danny presses the needle against his neck and wrenches.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **1:21-1:33**

Peter tracked down the location of Mohinder's knew lab. Or his last known location anyway, the youngest Petrelli isn't exactly on good terms with the company but its better and quicker information than Sylar would have gotten… and a lot less bloodstained but they don't discuss that.

Sylar stops Peter as they head out the door. "I need you to go to my apartment- where I live with Danny."

"Why?"

"I… haven't told his brother and sister what's happened and they'll be worried." Sylar rolls his shoulders as he can feel Peter's empathic, far too touchy-feely gaze on him. "Last thing we need is police searching as well." He finishes lamely. Peter knows his reasoning and trying to hide it from the mind-reading empathy is useless.

"Okay… but only because you asked so nicely." Sylar glares at him. "Oh, and try not to kill people."

Sylar promises nothing as Peter leaves his apartment first, Sylar following and they part ways on the street. It's only been a few hours but they know speed is necessary so Sylar's marginally grateful for the empath's unsaid knowledge Sylar needs answers NOW. He'd never say it, but he is.

The guards at the facility are laughable and that really should have been his first clue but Sylar's not thinking straight as he knocks down the first guard, practically dancing his movements are so fluid and precise. He's taking far too much pleasure out of killing these men but that's the entire point of finding Danny. Lifting a gun Sylar clicks off the safety, he loves the weight of it in his hand but it's still not as satisfying as killing someone with his powers but it's quicker. And it's the only concession his hunger will make in its unbridled state.

Still not a very accurate shot, Sylar observes of himself as a person moves behind one of the glass windows but when Sylar shoots the glass shatters and the person has already moved. Remembering how it felt to beat that man he'd met with Alejandro and Maya to death Sylar would give anything for a big, heavy rock.

The lab is empty, really he should have known.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **1:33-1:39**

Being smacked in the face with a gun is more undignified than painful for Sylar. But the look on the guard's face as Sylar turns back to let the man see his face heal is worth it.

Sylar's at a different facility now. The first location proving to be vacated, Peter discovered two more possibles which led to them splitting up again. Sylar doubts he's at the correct one seeing as the guard reacts in astonishment to Sylar's abilities- its obvious the company hasn't been here.

Sylar's going to beat Peter over the head until his regenerative powers cannot keep up if they don't find something soon.

Something's wrong, Sylar can sense it, and its eating him alive.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **1:39-1:50**

Safe house indeed…

Sylar's covered in blood as he storms into the Bennet's new home, startling Claire and Sylar doesn't even have a moment to delight in the horror that crosses her face when Noah comes running in, gun in hand.

Flicking him like an insect Sylar sends Noah flying across the room and against an unyielding wall decoration that produces a satisfying crack when Noah's back collides with it, gun skidding across the floor and away. Sylar's tired of guns now, if Noah doesn't give him answers then Sylar's simply going to have to cut open his head and _look for them_…

"Where. Is. Danny." But Noah won't say and they escape when his wife gets brave enough to slam a lamp over Sylar's head. But Sylar's not done with them just yet.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **1:50-2:10**

Danny wants to cry when he wakes up. He was never supposed to wake up.

Of course they'd found him, of course they'd fixed him, of course he'd live on when his lover was dead.

Danny's being taken to dinner with Mohinder and Bob. It's supposed to be a 'congratulations for not dying' dinner but Danny just wants to demand why they couldn't let him just die. It's when the waiter begins to show him to his seat and Bob's vice-grip around his elbow lessens that he's attacked by another memory, one he'd not seen before.

_Noah stares in shock at Sylar, gun readied and Sylar barely gets the words 'miss me' out before Noah's jerking into action-_

Danny's head feels fuzzy as the waiter tries to aid him, Bob and Mohinder currently not observing as his head seems to split. He can feel intense pressure and he's certain it can't last any longer- not without him bursting.

_Noah's unloading shots into Sylar's chest, the force pushing Sylar back until he's against the wall. Sylar's mouth parts in a silent sound as he slides down the wall, a thick, dark red streak marking the movement as he hits the floor in a heap, legs akimbo before him. _

Danny grimaces and gasps, his legs shaking and buckling. How many times must he watch his lover die in different, more horrific ways?! Someone catches him but the rest is swallowed by nothingness.

He wakes up again in his room in the lab. It's sickening how easy it is to get to the roof, even easy to look over the edge… even easier to drop…

~o~S~o~D~o~ **2:10-2:16**

Sylar's grin is malicious but Peter can't run now as the hand shoots out and lifts Peter into the air with an unseen force, a tight grip around his throat getting tighter and tighter.

The presence of mind that Sylar still had when he'd contacted Peter is gone now and the Empath's powers are making Sylar's hunger roar within him, itching to pry open that mind and _understand_. Peter's gasping for air he can't breathe in as the grip tightens further, clawing desperately at the intangible grip to break free but it's impossible.

"I need Danny, don't you see?!" Sylar barks suddenly. "All this running round in circles… Danny could be dead! Do you know what will happen if Danny is dead?!" Peter's choking and his flushed skin is paling from lack of oxygen. "I do not have control over my hunger- Danny gave that control to me by being there to take the focus of the hunger when it rose." Euphemism if he ever heard one but Sylar's beyond stopping himself from spilling more than he needs to.

"I… know…" Peter whispers, breathlessly into the cold night air.

Sylar jerks and his grip disappears, Peter falling to his knees and gasping harshly.

"You know nothing." Sylar hisses and is gone by the time Peter looks up.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **2:16-2:22**

It's satisfying to hear Sandra Bennet's heart race as he sits down and politely asks for a drink. She hands it to him and reaches for the phone in her panic, hopeful she can call the police before he gets to her but it only takes a flick of Sylar's finger and the device is shattered against the wall.

The terror in her face makes Sylar's insides tingle- this is respect, this is power… this is fear.

Sylar watches with mild analytical curiosity as she runs, breaking for the door. She's the only one home- son and little Claire at school and husband at work- so her only hope is of her own making. Only there is no hope. Sylar's fingers flex again and this time it's Sandra who jerks, slamming into the glass cabinet at her side and sprawling on the floor, cuts all over her, blood dripping…

Sylar just watches her. It's pleasurable to be that almighty, that powerful, to feel that fear and know you caused it but… it's not satisfying. Not nearly enough. Sylar needs Danny and he can't wait around for Noah to come home to get answers.

~o~S~o~D~o~** 2:22-2:41**

Why he didn't think of this before, he doesn't know.

Paintbrush in hand, trying to remember how it felt to hold that power in his grasp he outstretches his hand to the canvas-

The paint pot fell from his hand as his body jerked. A hand to his neck and he felt the tranquilizer seeping into his bloodstream, the heady sedative making his eyes bleary within seconds.

When Sylar wakes he's more irritated than surprised to see Mohinder before him. One day he's going to sit the man down and they are going to have a lengthy discussion of his preoccupation of drugging Sylar. It's getting to be annoying. It's also taking a lot of effort to stop the hunger from reigning, Sylar can feel his finger-strength hold losing every second and soon, very soon, Sylar will become the monster again. Last time he didn't try to stop it, this time he can't stop it.

Mohinder's pointing a gun at him and before Sylar's fully in control of his motor skills, the guns is fired.

The geneticist gasps and staggers back. Sylar looks from the bullet, frozen an inch or so from his face, to the scientist who looks like a trapped rabbit when it's Sylar who's strapped to the chair. He sighs. "I think we've been through this before… and once again you got over-excited and underestimated the amount of sedative necessary to keep me powerless."

The bullet drops and the straps fly open with a snap. Sylar stands, hurling Mohinder into a mirror with a gesture of his hand. The man slumps to the floor, cut and bloodied. He doesn't try to rise, merely watching from the floor- afraid. It's still not enough, Sylar observes.

A crunch of glass and Sylar's head spins about.

"Who's here, Mohinder?" Sylar asks softly. The scientist doesn't reply.

With a rising motion of his hand Sylar lifts the glass, sharpest points facing outwards in a circular shape about him. He doesn't say a word as the glass flies outwards, Mohinder ducking his face into his arms as the glass whistles through the air.

Sylar turns his head curiously as he hears a wet, choking sound. There's a glass shard stuck hovering in the air. Only now it's dripping with blood. The killer watches as Peter flickers and materialises before him, his eyes rolling and slumping to the ground face first. Sylar rolls his eyes and steps over the slumped empath, making his way to the door.

Mohinder pushes up in his elbows, "You bastard… Peter came here to help you, tried to convince me not to kill you- that that boy, Danny, could help you. And for his kindness you kill him."

Sylar stops but doesn't turn. "He should have left me alone when I said goodbye to him." He opens the door. "Pull the glass out, he'll regenerate once it's removed." The door shuts and Mohinder stares after him, conflicted. It takes a few moments but he works up the courage to pull out the glass, relieved when Peter chokes on air and blinks alert again.

Maybe Sylar is still good in there somewhere… doubtful but it's a nice thought.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **2:41-2:58**

Sylar's killing spree hasn't stopped. Without Danny to control him or Peter to fight him at least the hunger is unbearable. Each unsatisfying kill makes the ache deeper, like a starvation he can't feed.

Each scream sounds nothing like the way Danny would cry out beneath him, each splatter over warm blood can't compare to the feel of soft lips eager against his own. Each brain exposed before him is so much less complex than trying to puzzle out Danny and taking control is far less gratifying than when it is offered.

To be feared feels nothing like being wanted and cherished… and-

"_I love you."_

The crack of a hard object against flesh is a decent enough distraction from his thoughts if not his hunger. Who knows? Maybe this mind will offer him answers to where Danny is… Sylar doubts it. He's utterly forsaken now.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **2:58-3:21**

Noah's getting cocky and sloppy and finding him again isn't nearly as challenging as Sylar though it would be. Only Sylar's hopes are so dead now. Too much time has passed- days of dead end leads and fruitless searching. It doesn't take a genius to work out that Danny will probably be-

"Hello, Noah." Sylar whispers.

Noah jerks around as Sylar's voice reaches him. Not a second to react as Sylar slams him into the wall, watching him slid down with sick pleasure. This was the man that took Danny- he's sure of that much. Peter was able to confirm that small detail but now Sylar wants to know where Danny is and who has hurt him because those people are going to pay so painfully and slowly that Sylar's hunger will never want again. Not with Danny with him as well.

Sylar plunges the room in darkness and leaves him for an hour while he struggles to gather control enough to communicate. It's all for nothing, however, as when he enters the room again he has Noah pinned half way up the wall before he can blink.

"We've been through this before, Noah. Only this time you're going to answer my questions correctly and carefully." Sylar hisses.

Noah rolls his neck as though trying to look at Sylar from a good angle and Sylar gets the impression he wants to see his reaction to what's being said. "You want to know what happened to Danny? Fine." Sylar bristles but it doesn't show. "We showed him what you were."

Sylar rolled his eyes. "He _knows_ what I am."

"He may know but he'd never seen- we _showed_ him. Gave him memories of your deeds- your murders. All the pain and hate that had been directed at you when people attacked you, leaving you a bloody mess. Danny had to watch you be beaten and killed over and over with a new attacker each time- each one hurting for some other pain. A family member, a lover, because of morals, duty, disgust. Each one hated you and Danny had to feel that hate and anger and watch his lover die."

"Stop it…" Sylar gasped, his grip on Noah wavering as he listened to Noah's words, the lack of ringing in his ears confirming every word.

"He was so overcome with grief- horrified. That his only memories of a world in colour should be of his murderous lover dying again and again- knowing in detail every person who had been so hurt by you to try and kill you. He must have figured out there were more. Hundreds more."

"Stop it!"

"Really, who can blame him for running out into the road like that? And then when we brought him back, without using Claire's blood because really it would be unfair to take all the pain away- pain you caused- he tried to cut his own throat."

"NO!"

"Yes. We stopped him; of course… it was only right to. Then he just had to try it again…"

Sylar hasn't even noticed Noah's not restrained, that he's on his feet and stood before him. "Try what?!"

"He jumped off the roof of the building. And, well, you know how tall that building is…"

In a flash Sylar is pinned, one arm behind him and slammed into a counter top but Sylar doesn't feel as he screams. He's screaming in pain, agony as the ringing in his ears has yet to sound and it's all true- it's all _fucking _true! The countless times Sylar's been unable to save the person he cares about most- his mother, his foster mother, Elle… Danny. He can never die, will always survive, and no matter how much he tries he can't save one single other person. He was too late! Too late to save Danny. Now it's too late to save Sylar.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **3:21-3:36**

It's not difficult to escape Noah's grasp. The man makes the mistake of leaving him with so other company men in his hurry to go to his family and they aren't used to handling Level 5 criminals. When the truck arrives Sylar's not sedated in the slightest. So he flips the truck, breaking free of the handcuffs- insultingly the only restraint other than the armed men- and lifting the armoured vehicle over itself and watching it skid to a halt at his feet.

The laughably terrified men are shaken by the display of power- Sylar wonders if he slammed Noah too hard against the wall, the man was obviously not thinking straight to leave him with these fools. Before they even pull out a gun Sylar's on his way down the street.

Turning a corner and deflecting the occasionally on target bullet at his back Sylar breaks into the nearest car. It just takes a zap of Elle's electricity coursing through his hand and into the car before the engine revs and Sylar's driving away as the men run around the corner. It's not until he's way out of the city and into country roads that Sylar realises he can't feel a thing. His hunger isn't gone- its still there. It, along with every other emotion, is buried underneath a heavy layer of what feels like cotton wool. It's muffling everything, every thought, every action every feeling. Sylar feels numb. But that's all he feels.

He goes to turn the radio off when he realises it isn't on. The song was in his head but he can hear Danny laughing and smiling and singing along to it beside him- in his head.

It's his own carelessness that he's arrested with tear gas at the next toll gate. But he still doesn't feel a thing, Danny's laughter repeating in his ears over and over until he screams and he's knocked out by someone. The darkness is a blessing.

~o~S~o~D~o~ 3:36-3:52

"Why?" Sylar asks softly. His voice is raw, he thinks he's been unconscious for a few days but he's once again back in his little gray cell and time passes unrecognised here.

"Justice." Noah replies.

"'Justice'?" Sylar scoffs. "You don't know justice."

"Enough, Sylar, Danny was officially pronounced dead today; the death of an innocent, manipulated man in exchange for all the lives you've destroyed is justice enough." Noah murmurs with conviction but Sylar can hear a faint ringing in his mind. Noah doesn't really believe that, Noah feels guilty- feels sorry. Not nearly as much as he will when Sylar gets out of this damn box…

"AND YOU KILLED HIM!" Dig the knives in while you can, Sylar thinks, even while saying it out loud is ripping away the numbing wool around him and he can feel pain and hurt and anguish and all those emotions he knew he had a reason for burying.

Noah just stares down at him before leaving.

After three days, Sylar doesn't move from his position on the floor. Occasionally his eyes will track the cockroach his cell houses as it beetles its way around the corpse-like man but other than that and the faint rise and fall of his chest… Sylar's as dead as Danny is.

The pain replaces any hope, gone with the knowledge his salvation is dead and he, once again, will _survive_.

~o~S~o~D~o~

Akaiba xxx


	4. A Blind Man's Love

T**itle:** Blind Love  
**Author: **Akaiba  
**Rating:** NC-17  
**Disclaimer:** Were any of the characters Zachary Quinto and Chris Pine portray mine (or indeed the actors themselves) I would not have time to post fanfiction. ;)  
**Characters/Pairings:** Sylar(Heroes)/Danny(Blind Dating)  
**Summary:** AU (obviously) When it becomes apparent Sylar can't fix himself will Peter be able to repair the broken man and succeed where Sylar himself failed?

It is advised, however, that you read this fic in tandem with Lorlo7's vid http:// www . youtube . com / watch?v=3E4aHexpIQw&feature=channel

~o~S~o~D~o~ **0:00-0:25**

"Get up, Gabriel."

Sylar doesn't even bother to correct the man, rising like a zombie in a fluid but weary motion. He doesn't need a mirror to know he looks like shit but he can see his reflection in the glass Noah stands cosily behind. His skin is wax pale and clammy, his eyes dark with sleep that offers no rejuvenation, bloodshot and his fingernails are caked with blood from the dozens of times he's clawed at his face desperately to inflict some pain- something, anything! Just to feel something other than the never ceasing agony.

The lights are bright overhead and they make his eyes water but his gaze never wavers from Noah's. Sylar imagined all the ways he would kill that man when he was first imprisoned but now… now he doesn't see the point. The hunger has reached its fever pitch and now Sylar knows nothing can ease its agony anymore he finds he can do little but ignore it. But it's like trying to ignore as someone drills a hole through your skull and it's getting to be just as painful if not worse.

Noah has yet to say anything so Sylar just stares at him. When he can feel his legs aching with lack of blood circulation he raises from the bed and it prompts Noah into speaking. "Do you know what day today is, Gabriel?"

That _damn_ name… Sylar's not sure why it bothers him so much because he's just as weak as Gabriel was now. But still… Sylar is the person he created for himself and the person he crafted to still exist and be strong even when he gave up his murderous ways. For… for… Sylar wonders at the people who say time heals all wounds. He's lost track of how long he's been in this cell and yet it's only getting worse. Now he can't even say his name.

"And why would I care what day today is?" Sylar asks, his voice cracking and aching with disuse and a want for water. It's a luxury here though. Seeing as he doesn't technically need it to live they often don't bother giving it regardless of the fact he still thirsts.

His legs are weak, too shaky from having not being used, but he convinces them standing is a worthwhile endeavour, turning his back on Noah and preparing to tune his mind out of whatever prattle the man is about to spurt. He takes great delight in tormenting Sylar since he was imprisoned in Level 5 again- every opportunity to drive home as deep an insult or wound as he can.

"A year today… Danny died."

Sylar halts. Noah's silent but he can feel the man's sadistic satisfaction. Faintly, he can hear footsteps fading as Noah leaves, the lights dying and plunging him in darkness. He's not sure when but the floor shifts and he ends up on his side on the floor.

So… Danny died a year ago today? Why is it that Sylar can still hear his laughter as clear as he can still breathe? Why is it his smile never dims in his memories? Sylar thought time would have at least eroded the precious memories if not the pain but apparently both are preserved and continue to grind Sylar into nothing. He wonders if maybe he cuts open his own head and tears out his brain then maybe he'll forget.

Sylar doesn't move from the floor for the next two days.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **0:25-0:28**

_Ohshit,ohshit,ohshit!!!_

_Damn Sylar, Damn this kid Danny, Damn my mother, Damn everyone!_ Peter thought as he skidded round the corner, eyes darting either way for an escape. He can hear the guards only yards behind him but he can't teleport out just yet.

_Gotta find the file, gotta find the file!_ Why he doesn't just freeze time is so as not to alert his family to his little… mission. The last thing he needs is for his mother to nose in his business and twist it to be beneficial to her or the family in some way. Peter's just trying to help someone in need.

_Left, right, down this corridor, down those stairs, third door on the right…_

The lights flicker and die with a sharp pop. "Thank you, Micah." Peter murmurs under his breath.

_Now get outta here, kid. Before they figure out the power failure was you._ Peter projected the thought order to the child sat above ground across the street seemingly reading a comic book. He hears Micah agree and assumes the kid has made himself scarce. Peter makes a mental note to buy him a very rare comic book once this is all done and dusted.

He knows where the cameras are and when to angle his head just in case but he's pretty sure Micah's forced the tapes on a loop and all they'll see is an empty corridor.

_Blue door, gray door, office door, lab door, Bob's door!_ Peter grins despite himself and throws open the door. Bob's not home, thankfully, and Peter has the file in hand and has teleported out as soon as it's in hand. Now even if the report of the break-in gets back to his mother they'll think to look for Hiro. Not that Peter's trying to pin things on his friends but still… it'll mean they chasing the wrong power and Peter can possibly pull this off…

He appears in his flat and lifts the file up, grinning at it as though it were a small child spinning on his heel and-

_Oh shit. _

"Really, Peter. Must you constantly forget what _my _power is?" Angels says, pursing her lips and frowning at him from her seat on the sofa.

"Sorry, mom." Peter bows his head. He expects her to try and take back the file but she doesn't even look at it. Which he's grateful, he hates going against his mother. He'd take on the world, and he often has, but fighting her is just too difficult and conflicting sometimes. Especially when what she's up to isn't ethical or moral.

"I've known what you've been up to for a while now. Did you really think you could involve others in on your scheme and I wouldn't figure it out? Dreaming it or not I found out what you were doing very easily." He scowls a little at her; he doesn't like being told he's bad at something. She stands and moves before him, ignoring the way he hides the file behind his back like a child would when they know they've done something wrong. "I also think I may be able to help you."

"Uh oh…" He doesn't like the sound of that.

"Honestly, Peter." She frowns. "My plans always work out for the best."

"Chanti virus…" He points out defiantly.

For a moment it looks like she might strike him. "Must you always bring that up?!"

"Yes." He hasn't quite forgiven his mother for everything she put him through.

Angela rolls her eyes and explains her plan to her youngest son, to which Peter actually has to admit it isn't a bad plan at all. At least, he can't find a catch in it anywhere and he's had practice.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **0:28-0:32**

Sylar's lying on a slab table, his back aching but it's all dulled behind the haze of drugs they're pumping into him. The tube in his nose is uncomfortable and he wants to scratch at it and pull it free but he can't move a muscle. He's not even curious as to what experiments they're conducting on him anymore.

When the door opens to let someone in his eyes can only open a fraction, too heavy to be urged any further. Everything has a slightly fuzzy edge but he'd know that face anywhere, the voice just as unmistakable.

"Listen to me very carefully, Gabriel." Angela says softly. "I can offer you freedom. Escape from this place and a chance to join Peter's foolish mission. I can give you a family; even let you hang onto the brother and sister of the lover you lost. I can give you a career and discipline. All the things you've been lacking-"

"We've tried this before." Sylar points out, interrupting her speech to remind her. As if she could forget.

"But this time you've got nothing to lose and something to gain. Don't lie there and tell me that if you cared even for a second you couldn't be out of here in an instant. I know how powerful you are, Gabriel. I know and you know and yet you stay here. Why? Even before you became so withdrawn and still fought with a temper you didn't try to escape."

"Why should I?" Is all Sylar can verbalise. Angela seems to understand as she clasps his hand in hers tightly.

"I want you to be my son again. That is my only price for the freedom I will give you."

"Become your pawn."

"My son."

"Use me."

"Help you."

Sylar shifts his gaze to the ceiling. Angela's right, what really does he have left to lose he hasn't already lost in spades? Fresh air sounds good right now. Sunlight, grass, ice cream, Danny… He shuts his eyes.

"If I had a reason to leave, I would leave." Sylar murmurs.

Angela pats his wrist. "Think on it."

Sylar says nothing and the door shuts and he is once again alone.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **0:32-0:36**

"Whoa! Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Peter yells, darting around the bed as Sylar makes a grab for him. "Sylar, stop it!" Against the wall with only the slab-like bed between them which Sylar is leaning heavily against Peter thinks the cell is far too small for his comfort. "I came here to get you out!"

Sylar glares at the youngest Petrelli. "I'm not leaving, what would I do?! My reason died a long time ago and now the hunger won't leave me but nothing will satisfy it! Your mother came in here yesterday offering me freedom as well but she had no reason to give it other than for her own gain- the gain of another powerful son. I ask you, what reason do I have for leaving this cell when I don't even want to live anymore?!"

Peter opens his mouth a moment and then snaps it shut. He can't say what he thinks he's found until it's confirmed. Giving the desolate man intangible hope is a cruelty Peter won't exact, even if it would get Sylar out of the cell. Peter's not sure when he started caring- though it might have something to do with when Sylar reached out to him for help- but seeing that the monster not only has a heart and can feel but also that it loves… Peter's an empath and that kind of emotion is overwhelming enough for him to have felt it when Sylar thinks of Danny. To feel the love… and the pain, now that Danny is gone.

Sylar scoffs at his silence. "Get out."

Seeing the monster locked up like this, no matter how terrifying, is still wrong. Peter knows he can get Sylar out and won't even feel guilty about what he's going to say. "What about revenge?"

Sylar looks at him sharply, his eyes dead but for a strange glimmer Peter has awoken. He continues as encouraged by this glint of emotion.

"Bob has yet to pay for all the wrong he's done, to you, Danny and many others. The company needs to be ended and you can do it all- all in the name of revenge for the one they stole from you."

"Noah…"

Peter winces but says nothing. The man was protecting his daughter but, as ever, took it too far. He could only hope Sylar didn't kill him… or at least they could infuse him with Claire's blood before it was too late.

When Peter looks down at Sylar the gleam is familiar and terrifying but he got what he wanted.

Sylar was going to be free.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **0:36-0:44**

"Come on." Peter wave him up the drive, running ahead of him as Sylar stared up at the Petrelli family home, memories dancing before him tauntingly.

Danny's laugh… it wouldn't ever leave him. The smell of fresh, un-recycled air, cut grass… it all reminded him of Danny and the long walks they would take when Danny got restless and needed to just walk somewhere- to the park, to the basketball court, to the café, to the beach when Danny begged Sylar to use his power of illusion to take them.

_Am I doing the right thing?_ Sylar asked himself repeatedly. Then Noah's voice, repeating the details of how Danny had taken his own life because he'd been forced to watch Sylar die over and over again came to him. Then he would feel more certain of his decision.

Sylar was going to destroy Bob and Noah and the Haitian and make them pay for ever hurting Danny. Maybe Mohinder too… but he had changed sides last time he checked and was once again working with Peter. Maybe not Mohinder…

"What's wrong?"

Sylar stared at Peter's concerned face a moment. _What isn't wrong?_ He wanted to demand but instead he took a shaky breath and blinked his eyes clear again.

"I want to go home."

~o~S~o~D~o~ **0:44-0:58**

Larry is on him the moment he opens the door, a fist colliding with his jaw sharply and Sylar watches as Larry watches it heal without a word. Peter doesn't get a chance to move as Marie runs across the room and throws her arms around Sylar, crying into his shirt as he loosely puts his arms around her shoulders.

The older man turns away in disgust and exasperation, his face weary with worry and loss as he pours himself a drink of alcohol and locks himself in his room. Marie doesn't let go of Sylar until he makes to go into the room he once shared with Danny, she lets go in shock as if jolted and backs away. Peter watches her a moment before asking her to show him where the kitchen is. Peter and young people go together easily and Sylar's not worried about Marie being told too much as he slowly grips the handle and turns.

The room is exactly as they left it. Clothes neither of them could be bothered to tidy strewn about, Danny's law text books stacked here and there, Sylar's watch tools laid out on a table with one of his projects he never finished and he can even see Danny's prized tape of Casablanca next to the small TV.

Sylar lies down on the bed; he can't help himself, and is immediately surrounded by Danny's smell. The sheets haven't been aired or cleaned or even touched since Danny disappeared and as such the sweet smell clings to the covers and the pillows, attacking Sylar's sense over and over again with memories of the two of them on the bed. The most powerful memories were of those nights where they were too tired or simply didn't feel like having sex and Danny would lie on Sylar's chest and they would talk. Sometimes they would watch Casablanca or Sylar would read out loud until Danny fell asleep… sometimes they would just study each other, Danny's fingers tracing every curve and arch of flesh as Sylar committed every feature to memory.

Lifting an abandoned shirt to his face Sylar inhaled. It wasn't until he pulled the shirt away that he realised the wet marks on the cloth were from his leaking eyes. He thought he'd cried himself dry a long time ago.

It's Peter who packs when he comes in to see Sylar sat on the floor, knees against his chest with his face pressed into the same shirt. Peter doesn't say a word and packs all the sizes that look like they'll fit Sylar and some he knows are Danny's because they'd fit himself. With the way Sylar's clinging to the shirt Peter guesses it might be nice if he has a few more to hang on to. He packs the pillows as well, stuffing them in determinedly.

Sylar's silent as they go home, his hands never lessening their grip on Danny's shirt.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **0:58-1:18**

"Will you just listen to what I am saying for a goddamn minute, please?!"

Sylar takes a deep breath and points a finger at him warningly. "I don't want to hear where you're going with this, Peter."

He's still wearing the glasses he wears at work in the watch shop, jumper pulled over his head to ward off the chill of evening and he was barely through the door when Peter began bombarding him with dates and times of events a year ago- all too close to one day Sylar wants to forget but knows he'll remember for the eternity he must live.

Peter looks at him curiously, trying to understand and Sylar can practically feel that empathic power suck at his emotions trying to puzzle them out. He can't, so he just says what he means.

"I think Danny's alive."

_Danny's laugh… _

Sylar laughs. Shaking his head and sitting down in an armchair in his room of the mansion Peter's gaze intensifies as Sylar just shakes his head incredulously.

"Sylar-"

"Peter, that's a very funny joke. Not a good one, nor a nice one, but a funny one." Sylar's eyes are screaming in pain but his face is an empty mask of fake amusement and it makes Peter want to shake Sylar until the mask falls off.

Peter stares at him in disgust and disappointment but he quickly realises he can't push this issue so he leaves, slamming the door for good measure. Sylar doesn't even hear it.

He's drowning in his memories again.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **1:18-1:27**

Sylar's sat on a park bench. But not just any park bench. This was the bench Danny sat on when he threw that sandwich he detested so much and it hit Sylar in the back of the neck when he had paused to look over his 'shopping list' of powers.

"_Do you have to stop the movie?" Danny whines._

"_Yes."_

"_Is it important? It better be."_

_Sylar smirks and leans over Danny's form on the bed, pressing an open-mouthed kiss to Danny's neck. Another as the blind man squirms. _

"_Oh…" Danny breathes. "Okay then."_

He's slid down on the bench, his eyes distant and full of pain but no one around dares to approach even out of concern for all the anger rolling away beneath the pain. Anger and hurt and vengeance. The world could be burning around him for all Sylar cared as his mind replayed the time he had with Danny. He thinks it was two years nearly. A week next Tuesday would have been their anniversary of their meeting. Sylar's good with dates. His memory is impeccable. To a fault- it won't let him forget a single detail. Not even the way moonlight used to play across Danny's skin when he slept.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **1:27-1:39**

The shirt he's wearing is too tight and that's because it isn't his. It's Danny's.

It no longer smells like Danny but its comforting just the same.

"_Sylar's just jealous because we won't share our cookies, right Marie?" _

He jerks at the crystal clear sound of Danny's teasing voice and laughter. He glances around just to be sure then mental berates himself for being so stupid. Danny's dead- it's just his tormenting mind.

_Danny looks down from the outside stairs, vaguely at a dripping wet Sylar, and his now empty bucket is swinging innocently in his hand. He grins. "Got you." _

Sylar chokes and gasps, grasping at his chest as it aches and his lungs refuse to operate. It's a long while before he's controlled enough to go down and join the Petrelli- his- family for dinner. Peter watches him carefully all through the meal but Sylar doesn't let one wall down the entire time. If he did, he'd break apart.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **1:39-1:50**

"You look like you always belonged in this family." Angela answers Sylar's unspoken uncomfortable query as he tugs his tie straight.

He turns to her and stares as she moves over to him, neatening his work and fussing as though she were really his mother. Sylar guesses she's just trying to get used to the feeling of being his mother but what he knows of her motherly role with Nathan and Peter her motherly instincts are way off centre and extend far too into the realms of possessive, controlling and 'for the greater good'. Sylar would love it if she tried it on him; she'd quickly find out just how far he trusts her by how far he can throw her.

Sylar lets her lead him down to dinner, the elegant son on her arm as she shows him about the room- her long lost son, Gabriel Petrelli. The press are eating the bullshit up like cattle as Sylar just nods obediently, smiling when instructed and being the perfect son. Peter's not there but Sylar knows he'd be scoffing and shaking his head in the corner if he were. And if he were Sylar would join him.

"_You sound good in a suit." Danny observes._

_Sylar laughs. "Care to explain that one?"_

"_You sound more confident, more suave. Like you know just how good you look and that, yes, everyone in the room would love to sleep with you. A perfect gentlemen." Danny's giggling between his words but Sylar's not offended, he's flattered and rises to wrap and arm around Danny's waist and pull him close. _

"_Have you ever been ravished by a gentleman?"_

"_Nope, can't say I have."_

_Sylar grins at the challenge. _

Sylar escapes as soon as he can that night, locking himself away in his room with Danny's laughter ringing in his ears all night.

He doesn't sleep.

~o~S~o~D~o~**1:50-2:01**

"Have you… thought about what I said?" Peter asks slowly.

"Peter, you don't know what you're asking me to consider." Sylar moves over to the window and rests his head against the cool glass. "I don't know if I can let myself hope only to lose it all again. I don't know what sort of person I would become."

"Just… just think about the revenge you want. Think of that as just that- revenge. But I want to see if they know anything else… just anything." Peter rests a hand on his tense shoulder. "Just tell me you'll look with me."

Sylar looks over his shoulder at his adoptive brother and then back out the window.

Peter leaves silently, leaving Sylar to his thoughts.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **2:01-2:08**

Sylar claps Peter on the shoulder. "Come on, we have a plan to hatch."

The younger man doesn't let the disturbing glint in his 'older brother's' eyes shake him as he follows him into Sylar's study. They have much to plan and little time if it's all going to go off without a hitch.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **2:08-2:21**

Peter's well past his check-in time and Sylar's sneaking down the corridor as silently as he can- which is pretty undetectable if he does say so himself- only to see Peter unconscious on the ground and Noah pointing a gun at his mother's-Angela, dammit- head. Claire's there, trying to reason with her father why he can't shoot her grandmother. Noah's not listening though.

In an instant Sylar attacks, flinging Noah into a wall as hard as he can, a sharp crack telling him either Noah is dead or pretty heavily unconscious. He flicks his hand again and Claire goes into another wall, slumping boneless but certainly alive.

"Mother?" It's out of his mouth before he can stop it as he grips her shoulders.

She looks up at him in surprise, a small smile on her lips before she winces at the pain Noah's grip had done to her head where his gun had pressed.

"I'm fine, Gabriel. I'm fine."

They both look down at Peter and Sylar wordlessly lifts him, careful not to jar him. Angela insists on not removing the steel rod from Peter's neck until they are at home where he cannot escape her scathing remarks about his carelessness. Sylar thinks he's slowly beginning to see where Angela's mothering care enters into the relationship she has with her sons- with him, as she busily checks him over for marks or wounds. Once he has been deemed healthy she waves him off.

"Gabriel?"

"Yes, m- Angela."

She smiles her small smile that could be condescending, smug or disappointed- a million things- but Sylar thinks she's genuinely happy this time. "Thank you."

He nods and leaves. Within minutes he can hear Peter being chewed out for his irrational behaviour- and no, she doesn't care if she is his mother and he wants to protect her, he comes first and always will as far as she is concerned.

Sylar shakes his head. He'd smile, but he can't.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **2:21-2:29**

It doesn't even occur to Sylar that he's let himself hope until Peter enters the room and simply shakes his head.

They- Peter and Angela- insisted on picking Noah's brain the least bloody way and enlisted Matt Parkman's help to read his mind. Sylar doesn't put much faith in those readings when he remembers how easily Noah evades having his mind tampered with but Matt's abilities have improved significantly since the last time Sylar met him- almost enough to tempt his hunger- and Noah's hiding nothing.

As far as Noah is concerned, Danny is dead.

Peter's face is sympathetic and Sylar doesn't realise he's shaking until Peter pulls him into a hug. A brotherly hug that's mean to offer comfort and support when the other simply can't stand up on their own and Sylar doesn't understand how quickly Angela and Peter have just enfolded him into their family again but he's grateful… so damn grateful as he lets Peter hold him.

He pushes him away after a moment but Peter's not hurt, he just nods and leaves the room.

Sylar doesn't even dare to wonder what he's going to do now, that one shred of hope he didn't know he was holding is gone and now he thinks he's going to break.

But Peter had said Noah was a grunt man. He did the work and all the dirty jobs, why would the company keep him informed when it no longer concerns him? It's little comfort but Sylar's clinging to it as tightly as he does to Danny's pillow at night. He can't believe how weak he has become so quickly, so dependent on a dead man that he can't even function for fear of his memories shoving a too bright smile in his face and his legs buckling to the floor.

"_Will I see you again?"_

"_I'm only going to work."_

"_Just the same…"_

_Sylar presses a kiss to Danny's forehead. "Yes, you'll see me again. I promise. I'll never leave you."_

But Sylar had left him. Not that time but he had later and it had proved to be the death of Danny. If Sylar had never left him that morning, how differently would things have gone? Would Danny still be alive? Would they be together? Would it by Sylar in Danny's place and Danny in Sylar's?

Sylar's mind doesn't stop spinning until he's exhausted and collapses on the bed.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **2:29-2:48**

"No."

"Why not, Sylar?!" Peter doesn't understand. The past few days Sylar had seemed so close to almost being able to function again and then after the incident with Noah… it was back to square one. Sylar hadn't even tried to kill him.

Sylar doesn't answer but he's breathing heavily and Peter can feel the anguish and sorrow rolling off him. Sylar's given up again.

_A shy smile over dinner. Sylar's lip curls self-depreciatingly and he turns away slightly but a warm hand catches his own and when he looks up the shy smile is gone. Replaced by a bright, soul-searing grin that has Sylar confused and elated all at once. What had he ever done to deserve this man?_

"Well, even if you've given up- I haven't." Peter slams the door on his way out as Sylar slowly blinks the tears away from his eyes. Shifting in his seat to distract himself but he's bone-weary and tired of life, there's nothing he'd like better right now than to drag a knife across his throat and end it all but he can't. Someone would find a way to bring him back. He knows the world isn't finished with him even if he's finished with the world.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **2:48-2:57**

"What are you saying?" Sylar asks with a frown.

"I'm saying the reason we couldn't find a damn thing about Danny when we went looking is because as far as the Company was concerned, Danny _was_ dead. The body was reported to have been taken by an ambulance to a coroner's office where the body was incorrectly pronounced dead and death papers were forged with conflicting causes of deaths to the reports of those near the building at the time of death-"

"English please." Sylar hates having a nurse for a brother. He doesn't correct himself; Peter is his brother regardless of blood.

"I'm saying Danny never hit the ground." Peter's gaze was hard on Nathan.

"You have no proof, little brother." Nathan snaps, leaving sharply.

Sylar stares at Peter as though he were insane. "Explain." He ignored Nathan's exit. If Nathan was needed Sylar would bring him back.

"Danny jumped from the top of the building, yes, but the Linderman group, the group for which my brother is being groomed for by Linderman, found out about Danny and his potential to being the key to controlling you- a powerful ally- and told Nathan to track Danny down. When Nathan found him, Danny was on the roof. No one had noticed yet so Nathan took the opportunity to catch him as he barely left the roof and take him back to the Linderman group."

"How can you know this?! Sylar chokes out, barely letting himself dare…

"Mom dreamt Linderman and Nathan discussing Danny and I dreamt Nathan catching Danny so we pieced it together from there." Peter glares at the door Nathan had just exited. "From his reaction I'd say we're right."

Sylar wants to laugh and cry and scream and joke but all he can do is pull Peter to him and hug him tightly. "If you're wrong… I'll kill you." He whispers in a small and broken voice.

Peter grins into his shoulder as he hugs him back. "I know. But I'm not wrong. I know I'm not."

Sylar says nothing, not consciously letting himself hope, but in the back of his mind he's sobbing with joy.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **2:57-3:14**

He's not sure why he does it but it seems the only way he can express some of the turmoil he's wrestling with inside himself. Dear god a psychiatrist would have a field day but it's his coping mechanism at the moment- the first and last time, too noisy and messy- but it clears his mind afterwards.

Plus, spitting up the bullet wasn't fun.

Neither was shooting himself in the face but he thinks he's allowed a momentary breakdown what with all that's happened. Hell, he should be dead! He _would_ be dead! But that permanent part of his genetics now just won't let him.

_He can see Danny sprawled on a gurney in the back of an ambulance after the stupid, stupid man had fallen from the roof of his friend's, Jay's, house. Sylar had rushed over when Jay had called him, accompanying his concussed lover to the hospital and all Danny could say for himself was he was glad he finally had Sylar's attention after a long week of early morning goodbyes and midnight homecomings. _

_Sylar vowed never to let work at the shop overtake his commitment to Danny ever again. _

Sylar gasped. Danny… what if… no! Don't say it, don't think it! Don't even hope it's true!

He crawls into bed only to jerk and shake with every increasing memory. He's choking on his tongue and he wants to scream as he can't help but see Danny screaming in pain, just the way the Haitian had shown him. Noah's sicker form of punishment but it was effective. The Haitian had shown him Danny running out, terrified and hurting, in the traffic as he screamed out at the pain he was suffering from. Sylar can see those memories clearer than most as he lays there- feel the pain as though it were his own.

When he sees Danny fall to his knees, Sylar falls with him. Rocking on his side in pain and aching longing. Sylar wonders why he never said it, why he never told Danny… that he…

Sylar's exhausted mind is pulled under and he's swallowed by darkness.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **3:14-3:28**

Sylar tries to ignore the shouting voices in the other room.

"I made a mistake, Peter!"

"You're always making mistakes, Nathan!"

"_Road trip!" Danny's crowing in his ear as they drive down the road. _

Sylar smirks, the loud voices being blocked out by Danny's voice.

"I'm trying to say I'm sorry!"

"I don't care- look what you did to him! This is because you can't see past your damn career to see that no one- NO ONE- is worth hurting for power!"

_Danny giggles as he flicks the radio on. Sylar rolls his eyes and flicks it off without his hands leaving the steering wheel but Danny knows its him. "What do you have against the radio anyway? Whenever we get in a car you always turn it off!"_

"_Why do you have to turn it on?" Sylar shoots back childishly. Even his short temper can't shut Danny up and as tired as he is from work and from their… Sylar hesitates to call it a date but that's sort of what it was, but he's too tired for Danny's chirpy nature. _

"_Because I like to sing along with it."_

"_You can't sing."_

"_I can too!"_

Sylar closes his eyes as Danny laughs again in his mind.

"I didn't know what Linderman was going to have done with the kid- I still can't believe it and I found out a few hours ago. If I'd known-"

"You'd have done the same thing only with more subtlety so you weren't caught!"

_Sylar's eyes flicker over to Danny and he tries not to glare but really it's been a long day. _

"_I'm just saying if you don't want to talk at least let me talk to the radio. Well… sing, it's a sort of communication anyway." _

_When Danny flicks the radio on again Sylar doesn't turn it off. _

"So Danny's one of the people in this list? Abandoned after being tested and push to his limit Linderman just… left him?"

"Yeah, a lot of these will probably be dead-"

"Nathan!" Sylar can't hear the rest but he's too world-weary to care. It's a trick. Danny's not alive. There's not an entity benevolent enough to forgive him for all he's done and actually give him Danny back.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **3:28-3:33**

Sylar's head is pounding awfully, protesting loudly to him as he opens his eyes but he can feel uncomfortable warmth around him and he's curious.

He jumps a little as he sees he's completely surrounded by flames, lapping closer and closer to the support he's lying on. He can't quite remember how he got there but he thinks he might have done it on purpose? No… maybe?

Danny can't be alive. Its all a trick to make him Angela's tool again, only this time they don't understand what they are playing with and Sylar's not going to play their game anymore. He just wants silence. Cold, unfeeling, dead, silence. Anything to drown out the laughter in his ears and the smile in his eyes- two things he'll never forget.

He can hear someone calling his name, shouting actually. He's mildly annoyed when Peter drags him out of the fire.

"Don't fucking do that ever again!" Sylar stares. Peter never swears so it must be serious so Sylar keeps his mouth shut and doesn't point out that he can heal so it doesn't matter anyway. He just nods obediently and silently wonders when he truly began to think of Peter as a little brother, wanting to please him and be good.

It probably has something to do with the fact Peter won't ever stop hoping enough for them both.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **3:33-3:49**

"Sylar, Peter's right."

Sylar slowly turns his head at Nathan's words. His gaze is fierce and intense and he understands even if he doesn't say a word but Nathan feels obliged to explain.

"Danny _is_ alive. I saved him from jumping off the roof."

Peter glares at him. Nathan had called Sylar to Peter's room and the two of them are standing around the room as Peter rubs his eyes sleepily on the bed but within seconds he's alert and very, very pissed. He looks away from Nathan in disgust.

"I never meant-"

"Of course you meant it. Stop trying to be my big brother, Nathan. I have Sylar now." Peter says acidly. He doesn't mean it but he's trying to hurt Nathan just a fraction of the pain Peter is feeling through Sylar. It works as Nathan flinches and tries to speak.

Sylar would say something to Peter's comment but he's hyperventilating against the wall and he can barely calm himself to say a word as Nathan tries to plead with his little brother, begging for forgiveness.

Sylar flicks a lamp across the room; crushing it against a wall and watching it shatter before looking at Nathan. "YOU NEVER TOLD ME! All this time… Nathan, family or not I am going to kill you!"

Nathan doesn't flinch. He just looks from his biological little brother to his adoptive one and nods.

"I'm sorry." He says to them both. He goes to hug Peter but Peter stands and slams Nathan into the wall with Sylar's telekinesis.

Nathan stares at his little brother in surprise and maybe a little fear as Peter's face doesn't show an ounce of regret, his head cocking daringly. "Say your sorry one more time and actually believe its going to make any of this _shit_ okay again! I dare you!" His grip tightens a fraction. "I've been with Sylar all this time, feeling all the loss and pain he's been dealing with and its more intense than anything I've ever felt before and I've had to tell families their loved ones are dead but Sylar is hurting far, far more than that. And you…you think you can just apologise and any of this is going to be fixed?!"

Nathan says nothing for a long moment then shakes his head. "No, I don't. That's why I'm here. I want to help."

"Help?" Sylar chokes, the words barely escaping the hands clasped over his mouth as he tries to contain himself desperately. No telling what he'd do if he lost control now. Hundreds would probably die very horrible deaths and the way this conversation is going, he may just need Peter and Nathan.

"Help get Danny back." Nathan clarifies and for a moment, just a moment, Sylar dares to hope.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **3:49-4:11**

Distract Noah while Peter grabs the files, simple enough. Only Sylar's letting Noah rile him up and Sylar doesn't mind. He doesn't even try using his powers, preferring to feel as he slams Noah into the boxes. Even as Noah slams him back the pain is a welcome sensation.

"Did you know, when I found Danny that night, he came running out to me, smiling, because he thought I was you." Noah murmurs, ignoring the fact Sylar could snap his neck any second if he wanted to use his powers.

Noah punches him across the jaw and Sylar just turns back to look at him.

"He's not dead."

Noah punches him again, seizing him by the shirt and throwing him to the floor. As Sylar rises he repeats himself.

"He's not dead."

Noah is watching him with a raised eyebrow; he thinks Sylar's gone mad. Sylar just drags his way back to a standing position with a smirk and he slams Noah so hard against the back wall with his powers that he winces in empathy for the crack of his skull. Empathy? Damn, Sylar's been hanging around Peter too much.

As Sylar goes to approach the slumped body Peter runs up to him and teleports him within a second. When they reappear in Peter's room at the mansion- which he's taken to staying at to be close by- Sylar shrugs as Peter busies himself reading through the fat bundle of files. They'll always be another time to finish what he started.

Sylar instead ponders over what he had declared to Noah. He's not sure he fully believes it yet, clinging to his disbelief so as not to get hurt, but it's such a wonderful thought, a beautiful lie… Sylar hopes it's true.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **4:11-4:23**

"Your room is a mess."

Sylar looks up from the box he's rummaging through to glare at Peter. "Your observations, as ever, are enlightening."

Peter sticks his tongue out. "What are you looking for?"

"A paintbrush."

"Why?"

"I want to paint the future."

"There are plenty of paintbrushes in my room-"

"This one is special." Sylar's voice is getting desperate now. He's practically ripping the box apart before he gives up and throws it across the room making Peter jump to the side to avoid being hit. He can't tell Peter that Danny bought it for him, he won't. It's an admission of weakness and dependency that he knows is damn obvious anyway but he won't ever admit it if he's asked. They can all read it clear as day on his face but he won't ever say just how much he treasures Danny above the world.

Sylar stands and Peter darts to have the table between them. The killer feels guilty for making Peter afraid, _guilty_! He sighs. Before he can say a word Peter shifts a few things across the table and lifts a paintbrush up. Holding it out to Sylar with a determined expression. Sylar takes it and nods gratefully at him.

"I didn't mean to lose my temper." Sylar murmurs softly.

"I know." Peter smiles at him. "Its okay, Nathan used to lose his temper around me too. He'd then feel bad as well. Must be a big brother thing."

Sylar just watches as Peter goes to leave with a wave.

"Wait- why did you come in? Did you want something?"

Peter turns with another smile. "Nah, I just wanted to check on you. Family, remember?"

Sylar doesn't say a word as Peter leaves. He does remember but its taking him a while to figure out what it means exactly. He can hear commotion downstairs as Peter and Nathan are discussing with Angela whether it is good idea to perhaps let Danny's remaining family have contact with Sylar. Sylar doesn't mind one way or the other. He's pretty sure Larry hates him and Marie… well; he never knew what to say to her.

"_Possibly the stupidest idea you've ever had." Sylar says, shaking his head._

_Danny smiles slightly but won't look at him. It just makes Sylar want him more and Danny knows it. _

~o~S~o~D~o~ **4:23-4:28**

There so close… so close!

Peter's been so antsy lately, never sitting still for long, constantly pacing. Nathan's been poring over report after report, tracking each record of medical deportation in and out of the Linderman group. One of them has to lead to Danny. Even Angela's been getting more snippy and stressed. Handling the Company and now _three _headstrong and determined sons is grating on her, especially when they're so damn close!

It's why Sylar's standing on the balcony in the rain. They'd probably yell at him but he can't catch a cold or anything so it's no problem really. They just like to fuss but Sylar loves the feel of the cold rain on his skin- always has.

He once took Danny out in the rain, careful to keep him out as little as possible so as not to make him sick but it was so wonderfully intimate to share what was once always a private moment with someone Sylar is certain was his other- better- half.

They had danced in the rain.

Fingers interlaced and a warm body pressed against his chest, cold lips brushing his own, opening to that inner warmth that made them both breathless.

He so close to Danny he can almost feel those lips against his again.

Danny has to be alive, they have to be correct- Sylar can't imagine if not. But everything he's painting is indecipherable and meaningless so far so Sylar just hopes.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **4:28-4:37**

Close indeed… why is it whenever Sylar is about to accomplish something Noah appears?

Well… no more.

Sylar taps him politely on the shoulder, his expression never changing as Noah spins about in surprise- he'd thought Sylar was being taken care of by the two corpses behind the dark haired man. The smell of cooking flesh taints the air as Sylar throws Noah back with a flick. It's becoming his favourite sport- Noah-throwing. Its then that Sylar grins, manically and without a hint of remorse or sanity. Noah's gun is pulled free during his journey across the plaza but it skids away uselessly.

Nathan pushes past Peter, who's not trying to stop Sylar because he's swallowing up Sylar's hate and anger as well, and points a threatening finger at the grinning man. "Stop it now, Sylar. You listen to me- everything goes up in smoke if Linderman has any reason to suspect we know Danny's alive!"

Sylar looks from Nathan to Angela, who's nodding her agreement, and then to Peter who's looking murderous and Sylar swallows his hate. He feels guilty for having forced his hatred onto Peter like that but when the youngest Petrelli blinks open his eyes, they're crystal clear and innocent- just as they should be. Sylar's got so many reasons to learn control now but all he needs is Danny and when he gets him, he'll live again. Until then he will hate as much as he wants. If Peter's around he's sorry for it but he really can't control himself.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **4:37-4:43**

Sylar's stood before Angela's desk, listening to her detail their next plan of action and Peter and Nathan are engaging so admirably… Sylar just feels so tired…

"_Danny don't you dare!" Sylar snarls from the bottom of the stairs as Danny sits on the railing and begins to slide down. Sylar's heart is in his throat as he reaches out to stop him but his mind is too full of what if's to stop what's happening. When Danny's feet touch the floor unharmed Sylar sweeps him up in a hug and grumbles about it all day but that only serves to make Danny smile. _

"-worthwhile just to check." Nathan says. Peter nods in agreement.

Angela agrees with her sons. "That will be the first place then, after that-"

"_I cannot believe you stayed awake until 2 in the morning just to call me, just what was wrong with the normal hours of the day?" Sylar growls from the end of the phone. He's in the next city over babysitting Marie as she insisted on going to see some stage production or another with her school. Sylar's the only one who can chaperone as Larry's got work and Danny has class to go to. Plus he's blind and would need watching in his own right though Sylar would never say that out loud. _

"_Well, 2 in the morning is a more respectable time for phone sex." Danny giggles._

_Sylar sighs. "I'm not having phone sex with you."_

"_Wha- why not?!"_

_Because I want the real thing, he thinks. "Good night, Danny." He hangs up abruptly and Danny doesn't ring back to force the matter. _

"Sylar? Sylar!" Peter's shaking his shoulder.

Sylar looks up. "I… I want to see Marie and Larry." He chokes out. They stare at him, surprised, and eventually Angela's eyes narrow- perceiving a threat to her claim on him- but she nods sharply. Sylar breathes a sigh of relief. He has no idea why, but suddenly the idea of seeing them is making his pain just a little easier to bear.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **4:43-5:00**

"Sylar the cookies have cooled down now, want one?" Marie asked, bounding into the living room of their apartment where Sylar is sat down flicking through one of Danny's Braille books, just thinking because of all their time together Sylar never thought to learn Braille.

"Sure." He says softly, moving to stand as she pulls him into the kitchen.

She smiles at him as she hands him one. Marie almost looks like her old self. As much as it pains Larry to admit it, Sylar's presence is helping her.

He takes a bite of the cookie and almost smiles. He can remember Danny and Marie guarding a plate of cookies from him fiercely, determined the killer shouldn't get a single one until he sings Jingle Bells as loudly as he can. He never did but they gave him a cookie anyway.

Sylar jerks as the gunshot goes off, staggering as it pierces his shoulder. Marie screams and drops the cooking tray she's holding, scattering cookies everywhere. Sylar tugs the bullet free from his chest and turns to see Noah standing in the living room, gun trained on Sylar. The Haitian partner he has to his right and Knox to the left.

"Working with criminals I see." Sylar observes, gesturing to Knox, but he's well aware there only working together to kill him- the Company wouldn't target Sylar. Not with Angela at the head, at least… he hopes not.

"We're here to end you, Sylar. You've managed to get on Angela's good side and out of level 5 where you belong but that doesn't mean we can't kill you and save so many lives!" The gun is used to punctuate Noah's words as he jabs it fiercely at the killer. Marie screams again and when the three intruder's eyes flicker to here Sylar shoots his arm out, pinning them all in place.

The Haitian… his power could be useful… it gave Danny images of the world… Sylar wants that power.

"You will never change, Sylar, you will always be a killer." Noah snarled, as if catching onto Sylar's train of thought.

"I had changed! You changed me back!" Sylar roared.

"_I tried." Sylar whispered. _

"_I know." Danny whispers back. _

"Marie, go and lock yourself in your room and do not come out unless I tell you to, do you understand me?" She cries softly but nods. "I want you to turn your stereo on as loud as it will go, I don't care what you listen to but turn it up as loud as you can and _don't open the door until I say so_. Go!"

She scrambles across the kitchen and Sylar hears the door slam. A moment later all he can here pulsing through the walls is loud music, the heavy baseline making the windows shake and thrum.

Knox rushes him, Sylar's lack of concentration while he'd been talking to Marie allowing the criminal to escape his grasp. Sylar punches him hard, either fist throwing Knox from side to side as he roared in anger and fury. It's not until Knox is a broken mess on the floor that Sylar sees his hands are glowing with forgotten energy, radiation pouring off him in his unstable state. He clenches his hands as he let the somewhat more familiar if not less stable Hunger seize him fiercely. His hands extinguish and with the music throbbing in his ears he turns to Noah and The Haitian, hand raised and finger extended.

It's a long while before Sylar pounds on Marie's door. When she slowly emerges the house is empty and Sylar is perfectly fine. He looks weary and ill but he's fine… and he's wearing different clothes. Marie's not stupid- she knows what he's done.

"I did a bad thing." Sylar murmurs softly, not thinking for a second he can fool her.

"They took Danny." Marie replies. Sylar nods. "But he's alive?" Her hopeful tone is saddening to Sylar's ears.

"I hope." He gasps out.

They don't talk about it again as they tidy the kitchen and Marie doesn't tell Sylar how glad she is her brother's kidnappers and possibly murderers are dead and Sylar doesn't tell her where he dumped the bodies or how beautiful the red stains were. His hunger is raging within him and he's dizzy with a need he can't sate so it's only for the best that they don't try to provoke it.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **5:00-5:18**

Sylar can't believe what he's hearing. Peter can't be telling the truth. He feels sick and lightheaded, dizzy on shock.

_Danny's smiling over at him during the ceremony. Sylar's not sure how Danny knows where he is sitting but he doesn't question it, the gaze isn't dead on anyway, but he knows that look is meant for him. Danny's psychiatrist, with whom he's good friends, and his eye doctor from a long time ago are saying their 'I do's' and Danny won't take his eyes off Sylar, smiling and eyes shining with happiness. Sylar wonders why he's so afraid of that look but he can't look away- it's beautiful and terrifying. _

_Sylar once warned Danny he was in over his head with him. Maybe it's actually Sylar who's in over his head. _

Peter's not saying a word to him as he glares at his trousers, his legs tucked up against him as he curls up in the armchair in Sylar's room. He's refusing eye contact, anger and shame over his face. The sickness won't leave and Sylar thinks he's going to collapse.

"_Come on, or we're going to be late." Danny said standing. _

"_Correction: you're going to be late. I go to work whenever I damn well please." Sylar declared not moving or even opening his eyes from where he lay on the grass. _

_Danny snorted. "Not if you want to keep your job you don't- come on!"_

_Sylar opened one eye lazily and flicked his finger, forcing Danny onto the grass again. Danny sat up spluttering out grass when Sylar's hold released him. "That is cheating and also very mean- I don't appreciate eating dirt." Sylar laughed and rolled on top of Danny. "Public place!"_

"_It's always sex with you." Sylar kissed him softly and then stood as though nothing had happened. _

"You can't be saying this- giving this to me and then snatching it away!" Sylar begged with Peter.

Peter nods slowly. "Yup." His voice is empty and emotionless and Sylar could strangle his would-be little brother- of all the times to shut down his empathic powers!

"Please, Peter!"

"Where else can we look?" Peter asks sharply, he's tired and defeated and Sylar's emotions are threatening to drown him. "We've looked everywhere- maybe… maybe we were-"

"I can't face the world without him."

Peter bows his head and sighs.

"Please… I told you not give me hope if you couldn't fulfil it." Sylar said, he's not even ashamed as he feels hot tears stinging his cheeks and all he wants to do is explode and take out everything- everyone.

"I'm sorry." Peter truly is.

Sylar lets out an anguished wail and shoves Peter out of his room with his powers, locking the door and collapsing against it. Peter shakes his head to shake everything back into place, listening as his new older brother breaks behind the door.

He's got one last place to check but he wasn't even going to bother. Sylar's pain is making him want to at least check- for arguments sake- and then he can try and piece Sylar back together again. Because he knows this last place is a write-off. It's a John Doe with such severe injuries to his mind and body that the hospital are questioning the logic of keeping him on life-support because the bills at the end of it are going to be astronomical. They're going to take him off the machine in two days so Peter has to hurry.

The unknown man is in Texas somewhere, Nathan has the address, but to get there he's going to have to fly. Literally.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **5:18-5:23**

"Holy- oh my god!- DON'T TOUCH THAT MACHINE!" Peter roars. The doctors look at him in alarm.

"Sir, please, this is a hospital-"

"My name is Peter Petrelli and my family will pay this man's medical bills- all of them- now you fix him and you fix him NOW!"

The doctors stare a moment before Peter screams at them to get moving and they wheel the bed away as fast as they can, Peter jogging alongside it to keep up. Danny stirs enough to turn his head from side to side but Peter can tell he's not conscious by a long shot.

From what the doctors are saying Danny has to survive three operations on his brain to right the damage down there and then a series of stitches must be removed surgically due to them having become infected before they can be replaced. Peter wants to demand why none of this was seen to before hand but he knows the money-grubbing hospital didn't want to waste time and effort on a man they doubted could foot the bill. Even focusing on the lesser kindnesses in society Peter can't stop smiling.

He can barely breathe, he's shaking with relief and joy and elation and he just wants to dance but as the doors to the operating theatre shut in his face he knows there's one person who really should be here. His joy can wait- there's someone else who is probably going to be happier than three of Peter's extremely emotional happiness's combined.

~o~S~o~D~o~ **5:23-5:55**

Peter strolls down to the waiting room, the stupidest, self-satisfied grin on his face that Sylar has ever seen but he could care lass as he's out of his seat in a heartbeat. His own heart is racing a mile a minute and he can barely breathe to ask but Peter knows- he always knows.

"You're late." He mock glares.

Sylar just breathes out a breath of exasperated relief at Peter's attempt at humour.

"Come on." Peter grins. "There's someone waiting to see you."

Sylar runs past Peter, his shoes sounding loudly on the floor and not even the nurses yelling at him 'no running in the hospital' will stop him. Peter shouts the ward number to him as he follows at a walking pace. Sylar doesn't stop running, his feet pounding as hard as his heart, until he's right against the window of the ward. He presses his hands to the glass and stares as he sees Danny shift under the thin hospital sheets. His head is in a thick bandage, the result of the operation, but he's- dear god- he's alive!

The killer staggers back from the window and clutches at his chest as he begins to lose control of his breathing. His eyes are watering and he can't stop himself as relief and joy flood him- all the pain and sorrow is being expelled in his sobs as he wavers on his feet, watching as Danny yawns in the room, murmuring something in his sleepy state but not asleep yet.

"Go to him, Sy." Peter says softly. Sylar hates the nickname but he lets it slide- he can't really focus on anything other than the man in the room anyway.

Sylar staggers into the room, the door clanging loudly, as he can barely coerce his feet into supporting him and to carry him to the side of the bed. He hates that the noise made Danny jump and jar his body but the smile that lights up that brilliant face when Sylar's smell surrounds him is so magnificent it steals Sylar's breath.

"Hey there." Danny whispers.

Peter watches from outside the room, a hand against his mouth as he just lets the emotions from the two of them ease his worries. He lets himself cry for joy for both of them as he watches Sylar shake and collapse against the bed.

"I believe you owe me breakfast." Danny says with a smile.

"Danny- please!" Sylar cries, almost hysterically but he's laughing and crying and he's not felt so alive in so long! "I love you! I love you, I love you, I love you!" He's waited so long to say it, constantly hating himself for never saying it when he had the chance but now he can't stop the words escaping his mouth. There's a long silence as Danny simply smiles and Sylar clutches his hand tightly. "I said I'd never leave you." He murmurs the quote softly. It's a sentimental gesture but Sylar doesn't know quite how to express what he's feeling and it seems the most appropriate way.

Danny's face brightens at the Casablanca reference, tears rolling from his sightless eyes as he pulls Sylar closer. "And you never will." He replies. The smile Danny gives him is small and weak but it says all it needs to say as Sylar curls up on the bed with Danny, the two of them letting exhaustion claim them and finally sleeping easily as they have not done for an entire year where Danny spent most of it unconscious or drugged and Sylar may as well have been dead for all the emotion he felt.

Peter won't let anyone move the killer from Danny's bed and he can just feel the happiness rolling off the pair of them. It's a sort of unconditional contentment and acceptance that crappy love stories always prattle on about but Peter never thought, of all people, Sylar would find it.

But he has.

And it's beautiful.

~o~S~o~D~o~ End of the first Arc.

Akaiba xxx


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